Released: 31/08/09

The Dodos sound like summer, literally. The weather may be terrifically tripe outside in England, you may be thinking of creating your own Gore-Tex skin grown from mice, shoving another baked potato in the oven and smothering it with cheesy pasta before injecting it into your cold soul, or just drinking, but before you do, you should listen to The Dodos new album. California right there in the little gap between ear one and ear two.

Like the sea, cake and The Shins, they’ll throw you in the back of their wide, American Cadillac and whisk you to the endless racing horses via the drive- thru. With the percussion of Logan Kroeber, guitar strumming of frontman Meric Long and the introduction of Keaton Snyder on the vibraphone, an instrument The Dodos apparently have always wanted for its messy but ‘organic’ sound, I challenge you to remain in any form of dark place with Time To Die. Well, perhaps if you don’t listen to the words.

Time To Die has all the instruments and high, mellow vocal charms of Meric Long, with its all American blanket, but as opposed to the 60s bordering nauseating optimism for the beach, gals and all, The Dodos behold a deeper and slower sound. Adding a touch of folk to their psychedelic hum, for example with Longform and This Is A Business, the instruments have a spirally ho-down. They also have a splurge of melancholy. Strums is a depressing song but is played with the sound of the sun. As is A Time To Die, Troll Nacht and Acorn Factory, the latter with its escapist guitar notes is a true beauty.

I know I promised you sunbeams from sunshine world, but apparently bad stuff goes down in California too. At least they sing about it deliciously and if you close your eyes, you can almost sense the sizzle of the sun when you crack on these San Francisco boys.

www.dodosmusic.net

Helen Martin