Back in 2006, the San Francisco indie group originally known as Dodobird put out its first, self-released album, Beware of the Maniacs. With its sixth album release to date, the group better known as The Dodos, consisting of members Meric Long and Logan Kroeber, are getting ready to begin a long tour to promote their latest release on February 10 in their home state of California.
In Individ, The Dodos get grounded deep in their roots, honing in a distinct call-and-response design between Long’s intricate guitar fingerpicking, whether acoustic or electric, and Kroeber’s unorthodox, but astonishingly innovative fashion of emphasizing the underrated features of a drum set. By removing the bass drum, and instead tampering with the rims of the drums as well as taping a tambourine to his shoe, Kroeber shows control over these easily overlooked elements. While the detailed guitar playing is arguably an equally crucial component of the duo’s imaginative tinkering, it’s the percussion element that is more demanding of recognition.
Any listener who has stuck around will appreciate where the duo lands with its sound. While it wouldn’t be at all fair to say The Dodos are making a return to their primary sound (since they never quite left, but merely experimented), it might be fair to suggest that Individ serves as a counterpart, a parallel to 2008’s Visitor. Similar to past works, the sharp instrumentalists’ back-and-forth creates a beautifully tangled sound that catches one in an emotional opposition between the feeling of a tireless passion and the blatant overcoming of said passion.
Further, the sound is easily complimented by string instruments whether it be in a full orchestra or an accompaniment (which, in fact, has been the case a number of times). This speaks to the members’ precision and likeness to the plucking of a string instrument. It’s the deliberate speed of the intricacy that warrants listens upon listens, just as any orchestral composition might.
The album’s final track, “Pattern/Shadow” depicts a haunting picture that seems like a convoluted mess. Long sings, “I cannot predict / All your patterns / You blew us away / And I could not escape.” The evasive lyrics layer on the trouble by endlessly repeating in an alternating fashion “Your pattern” followed by “Your shadow” in what is almost a hushed calling, a hither forth.
All the fast-paced fingerpicking wants nothing more than head-bobbing with a leftover feeling of dizziness. Track 6 “Goodbyes and Endings” is in keeping with this aura and a personal favorite off the record. So the elegantly figurative chorus goes: “And if I cannot be still / Would you be alone? / Would you care? / Could it be enough / If I learned how to turn it off?” Long’s verses artfully and imaginatively edge on poetry, albeit with a careful approach. And this may even make the words carry a mindful honesty. Maybe it’s just that I haven’t been this taken by an album in some time, but while I was on the verge of jotting these lyrics down somewhere, I had the thought that this vibrant album would be suitable for listening to while painting feverishly.
A brief final note: “Bubbles,” track three, ironically begins by asking: “Is this too much for you?” right about when you will contemplate if this well-crafted album is simply going to be too much to take in for a single sitting.
Individ:
1. Precipitation
2. The Tide
3. Bubble
4. Competition
5. Darkness
6. Goodbyes and Endings
7. Retriever
8. Bastard
9. Pattern/Shadow
