The Dodos - No Color (2011)

The Dodos formed during the heyday of the artists they seem to be trying to emulate. “No Color” sounds like a band trying to be Animal Collective, Fleet Foxes, and Wolf Parade all at once. The forays into folk rock lack the majestic, rustic quality of Fleet Foxes’ debut album. The quirky vocals sound like Panda Bear minus the interesting psychedelic soundscapes. The album as a whole sounds like a band who took pages from the be-eccentric-but-sound-kinda-bored playbook, a la Wolf Parade, except nothing here compares with the best songs from any of those bands’ cannons.

There are a lot of songs built around echoing, peppy drums that are lent a hollow sound by the production. Gentle, almost math-y (think Joan of Arc, but sleepier) acoustic guitar melodies just repeat throughout most of the tracks. Nearly every moment of this album is something we’ve already heard, and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I loved the album Noah and the Whale just released, and that thing was derivative as hell. It borrowed from a number of different sources, which made it somewhat more original than if it borrowed from just one or two. That album did have a wonderful, inviting character to fall back on, not to mention the knockout melodies. I hear none of that here.

When a band or scene takes flight, there will inevitably be followers who try to strike the same chords with people that made albums like Apologies to the Queen Mary, Arcade Fire’s Funeral, or Sufjan Stevens’ Illinoise such big hits. Though The Dodos do not sound exactly like those artists, I think they were influenced by them. People can be strongly resistant to bands that do what’s been done before, especially if they’re part of the “second wave” of a sound. In general, second waves lack the spark of the first (grunge is the best example). Sometimes a band can transcend this problem and stand up alongside the artists that influenced them (Interpol, Flogging Molly, and The Cribs, for instance). I am not usually one to whine about a band being derivative, but I am really in no mood these days for an album that rehashes required listening for “Hipsters 101.”

“Don’t Stop” sounds like it could be a lost Sunset Rubdown b-side; “Sleep,” an Animal Collective b-side; “When Will You Go,” a b-side from Phoenix’s Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix sessions. The only moment I liked on this album was “Companions,” which has some nice acoustic guitar work.