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Reviewed for FasterLouder

Indie folk bands are a dime a dozen these days. You’ve got the likes of Vampire Weekend and Yeasayer taking african pop flavours and mixing them with danceable indie and then you have the likes of Iron + Wine and Devendra Banhart who take traditional folk, add a dash of indie and create their own tweaked and twisted version.

The Dodos are yet another take on these elements. Their first album Visiter had a strong focus on percussion in the way the guitars were played and the insistent drumming style. It captured the attention of many and live they were a captivating duo (and then trio), riding a kind of surging rhythmic wave.

Now onto album #2 and Time To Die continues in much the same way as its predecessor. The driving and frantic strumming is present but something has changed. On first listen it all pools together as one inseparable rush of songs and is initially disappointing after the fresh rush of their debut. Like so many great albums it benefits from time and patience and  that is when the subtleties emerge.

Moments like on Longform when, with a minute to go, the drums pause and the acoustic guitar of Meric Long comes to the fore before a new syncopated drum pattern arrives. Elsewhere a trumpet adds another Sufjan-like presence to The Strums and hints that The Dodos would do well to use brass more often.

Fables is hands down the most rewarding track on the Time To Die. Long’s vocals dip and soar with syrupy ease and he gives us a fantastically melodic chorus when he sings “I don’t wanna go in the fire, I just wanna stay in my home”. It could have easily sat alongside the brilliant songs on their debut.

What lets this album down is the lack of edge and rawness that made Visiter such an invigorating listen. Long’s vocals are softer, sweeter and over-processed on the new album. It is as if he has thought too much about them and not captured the impulsive feel of their debut.

Instrumentally they use the same palette of sounds but like the vocals, the guitar has been smothered in the mix. It doesn’t spark and jump out at you like it did the first time around. Additionally, the softer mix of Phil Elk takes The Dodos into more of a Death Cab For Cutie and west coast indie pop sound that doesn’t build on what made them such a new and exciting band.

Time To Die is a disappointing 2nd album from The Dodos, too flat and measured and lacking the dynamics they are capable of. There are flashes of brilliance and it is by no means a bad record that you should avoid. Onstage these songs will no doubt sound a lot more alive, perhaps The Dodos’ path towards redemption requires a live album to get them back on track.