Visiter by The Dodos
reviewed by: Roger Shaw '08
It’s just a drummer and an acoustic guitarist, but man, what an interesting band. Both musicians in The Dodos are really technically proficient, but this isn’t prog or anything. Instead, the band use their skills to craft off-kilter experimental folk songs that sound totally ‘sideways’, if that makes any sense.
Part of that comes from the fact that a lot of these songs sound like they were built off an interesting drumming pattern rather than off a guitar riff, which I really appreciate. There’s a lot of interesting drumming and rhythmic meter on this record in general, which gives the record a unique swing and keeps everything just slightly off-balance.
In general, something about this band and this record is just sideways, and I like that a lot, it’s intriguing and different enough to hold your attention much longer than the run-of-the-mill folk tune, without wandering off into abstract experimental space either.
After thinking about it some more, here's my best explanation of my 'sideways' description. Imagine a canonical painting. Doesn't matter what period it's from, it could be the Mona Lisa, or a Pollock, or a Monet. Study it for a while. Now...turn it sideways. Objectively, it's still the same painting, but there's something different about how your mind reads it. That's how I feel about The Dodos to some extent. The best songs on this album sound like rock music turned sideways.
play: Med. High