Album Review: The Dodos – No Color

The Dodos - No Color

Album Review: The Dodos – No Color
By Evelyn Anne Clausen

If album releases are like high school, The Dodos have finished their senior year and are ready to take on the world. Unlike many bands, The Dodos truly broke out with their sophomore album Visiter (2008), but hit a snag on the disappointing Time to Die (2009). Fortunately, the band has regrouped and returned for album number four, the thoroughly enjoyable No Color.

There were a number of problems with Time to Die, most noticeably, the addition of a third member to the band and stripped-down, squeaky clean production style which managed to thoroughly diminish the band’s wild and eclectic sound.

After dropping the third band member and switching back to their original sound engineer, The Dodos have returned to form. While No Color may not be quite as catchy as Visiter, it makes up for any lack of hook with a new level of maturity, likely gained from three years of trial and error and lessons learned from past mistakes.

“Black Night” starts the album off with a sharp crack. Logan Kroeber’s style of drumming on the rims of his drums gives this track the signature sound that has come to represent this duo. While the first two tracks are energetic and fun, the album really takes off around the third track, “Good”, with its infectious chorus and howling vocal lines and continues the upward trajectory with “Sleep”, a track that moves dynamically from a quick bridge to a slower, more melodic chorus.

There are some really solid songs on this album. “Don’t Stop” shows off Meric Long’s excellent guitar picking skills and “All Night” finishes off the album on an energetic and interesting note, including the yelps and harmonies that, in addition to Kroeber’s unique drum style, define the band’s sound in so many ways.

With so many bands releasing mediocre follow-ups to great albums, its incredibly exciting to see a band come back from a minor failure and find their sound again. If you’re a fan of The Dodos, this album will be a satisfying return. If you haven’t listened to The Dodos yet, No Color is a fine place to start.

Editor’s Note: Evelyn Anne Clausen is a contributor to DeadJournalist.com. Her reviews can be seen on this site on a regular basis. You can follow her on Twitter @evelynanne or via her Web site easbrain.com.