Album Review: The Dodos' No Color

What do you look for an a band's third major album? I'm going to go with refinement. All bands have those first random little records that you discover after the fact. It's typically their first label album that piques our interest. It's their second big album that hopefully takes their style, expands it and melts our faces. Now it's the third that we expect a certain level of cleanliness, polish and yes, refinement.

The Dodos' latest major album No Color is the perfect third installment. It takes the band's energetic, experimental sound and applies a degree of tightness that still manages to capture their driving, frenetic sound. The real power and pleasure of the the album comes in the form of grace notes supplied by none other than Ms. Neko Case. There's wisdom and pose there that's a perfect juxtaposition to Meric Long's pseudo naivety.

The track that proves this theory the most is without a doubt Don't Try and Hide It. This song, like many others on the album, gets stuck in your head in a good way. You enjoy waking up in the morning with this song still ringing in your ears. Bottom line: Go try it, don't fight it.