The Dodos, “Individ”
Itap almost hard to believe that have been around for 10 years, given the way “Individ” sounds. The band’s sixth LP doesn’t sound drastically different from anything they’ve made before, but it does sound like it was made by a younger band working its fingers off.
Logan Kroeber and Meric Long have had a quiet but beautiful run thatap earned them adoring and loyal fans and a soft spot in critic’s hearts. None of the Dodos’ releases have quite touched the magic of their full-length debut, “Visiter,” but their music has been consistently lovely in its weird way. What the Dodos have retained all along is an aversion to polish and a knack for keeping you off balance.
“Individ,” like all Dodos records, is restless, complicated and technical, all while sounding effortless. Kroeber’s percussion acts as a perpetual motion machine for the entire record, tirelessly driving everything forward. Even through frequent time changes and polyrhythmic dances and duels with guitars, the momentum never stops. The only thing that lacks urgency is Meric’s voice, which is as relaxed as ever. It’s as if his lungs just can’t push much air while the rest of him is busy making challenging guitar riffs fit in the musical jigsaw puzzle.
His vocal style really suits what the Dodos do. Their music has always been on the melancholy side — and it was downright sad when they made “Carrier” in the wake of guitarist Christopher Reimer’s death. “Individ” finds Meric and Kroeber back to their usual vague melancholy, writing lyrics like, “Let go of it / Get out of here / Letap get out of here / For good,” or a repetition of “Your shadow remains.”
But the mind-twisting motion of each song on “Individ” keeps you there in that blue world. There’s just so much going on, constantly shifting and evolving, that you can’t help sinking deep into it. And by the time you come out on the other side of “Pattern/Shadow,” a seven-minute trio that grows from something haunting to something exhilarating, you’re at the end of the album dazed but ready to go back for more.
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Ashley Dean is an editor and designer for YourHub at the Denver Post and a regular contributor to Reverb.
