After the Avey Tare screams and metaller and metaller drumming on last years Visiter by San Franny’s Dodos, I’ve been pretty disappointed so far by what they’ve brought out on album #3, Time To Die. The almost bipolar on/off delivery of Meric Long is gone, replaced by softer melodies, and more convoluting plucking patterns. The second half of the album trumps the first in terms of tempo, and the album as a whole is pretty devoid of hooks. The best moment for me so far is opener Small Deaths, where Long pulls a sweet little vocal melody out for the refrain, and Logan Schreiber makes his Speedy Gonzalez-on-cocaine-doing-Slayer drumming sound, well, pretty. They’ve adopted their touring percussionist as a full-time member, and it seems to have convoluted their songwriting process (that being said, some of Visiter was as boring as these songs are). Too jamlike, and too many extra ‘ideas’ that pollute tracks that could be cut back to 4 minutes. Hopefully it’s a grower (I DO MEAN THIS), otherwise Small Deaths might be the only piece of this album worth keeping. You can stream the album here and decide that for yourself, and also download another track off the album, Fables. And when my box is functioning I’ll put Small Deaths up here too.
EDIT: The Dodos – Small Deaths
XOXOXOXO
