Time To Die

The third album by the Dodos opens with “Small Deaths,” a sweet and smart number that creeps along stealthily much in the way their previous release, Visiter, did. While their sound continues to center around skillful, propulsive drumming and percussion, an abundance of acoustic guitars and Meric Long’s pleasant, warm voice drawing out syllables at a leisurely pace, Time To Die feels a bit more restrained than Visiter. Standouts like “Longform,” and “Acorn Factory” feature top-notch acoustic guitar work, while “The Strums” is pushed and pulled by humming, Feelies-like guitars. “Fables” has a melodic, repeated chorus and the most traditional song structure of the bunch, and “Troll Nacht” beautifully nudges glittering, acoustic fingerpicking up against reedy, electric guitars and walls of tom drums. That yin/yang struggle is a teaser, and one might beg the band for more of those dynamics in the future. Better yet, they can steal their own ideas from Time To Die’s title track, a blissful, six-minute mini-epic of hard edges and surprises; acoustic guitars never sounded so exciting.