A Round of Sound

A little bit of polish can oftentimes be a good thing, but it can also rob a band of the raw energy that allows it to stand out, sacrificing what made previous efforts so intriguing; such is the case with Time to Die.  That’s not to say that Time to Die is a bad album, but after last year’s critically acclaimed release Visiter, it can only be considered a disappointment.  With Visiter, The Dodos brought a unique sound to the table full of percussion based, complex acoustic guitar tracks probably best exemplified in album standout “Fools” (the folks at Miller took notice and featured the song in a Miller Chill commercial).  The refreshing African inspired drum beats created an urgency to the music that really put a whole new spin on this whole indie-folk genre popping up all over the place.  Unfortunately for Time to Die, the percussion seems to be an afterthought, never really being featured, and the songs suffer for it.  The former duo has added a third member since Visiter, bringing in a full time vibraphone player who adds to the sound creating more lush tunes, but for the most part the songs on Time to Die just seem to lose their edge.

There is something to be said for maturation, which I do think Time to Die certainly can attest to.  The first three songs, including lead single “Fables” indeed show how the group has grown as songwriters, but overproduction and a loss of enthusiasm just seems to plague the disc.  The group brought on Phil Ek (The Shins, Fleet Foxes, Built to Spill) to produce Time to Die, but it just doesn’t seem to be the right fit for the San Francisco trio.  The group had already perfected their sound to create a uniqueness that really could have been exploited, but Ek seems to have missed out on that and fired a rare miss.  When it comes down to it, Time to Die is the results of a lo-fi band evolving into the next stage of their careers, which ultimately might be a fine thing.  But after releasing one brilliant album in Visiter, I guess I was just hoping a little more gradual shift, if a shift at all.

[“Fables” – Time to Die]