‘Visiter’ is a collection of folky, largely acoustic tunes. Often whimsical, occasionally too soft. Yet, a touch of frewheeling rock’n'roll spirit sets The Dodos apart from the glut of singer-songwriters.
You have to be good to play acoustic music without sounding like a whinge muppet. It helps if you are a bit psycho or streetwise. Strictly speaking, The Dodos aren’t either. But they have that looseness that sounds like they are ‘hanging with friends on the street corner’ rather than trying very hard in a recording studio. It’s not often that they raise their voices, but they can if they have to.
From a vocal point of view, ‘Undeclared’ is the most assertive song here. ‘Jody’ is my favourite number on the album. A laid back affair with simple drums that could be at home on a Jonathan Richman album. ‘Paint The Rust’ boasts some neat jangly guitar work showing that The Dodo’s can crank it up a level or two if needed. More of that, and ‘Visiter’ would have been a very fine album indeed.
All in all, it’s a very gentle album, by and large a bit too ‘nice’, but occasionally blessed with a raw simplicity which sets ‘Visiter’ apart from the current glut of acoustic singer-songwriter albums.
Listen Here to ‘Visiter’ and download the album from iTunes.
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