The Dodos - Time To Die

When you're an indie buzz band that is riding high on the strength of your break-out album, it's wise to not take so long to release your next album, lest you want everyone to forget about you. Someone obviously briefed The Dodos on this fact, because they decided to release their new album, Time To Die, a little over a year after their last album, Visiter, on September 15th. Produced by Phil Ek (Fleet Foxes, The Shins, Built To Spill), Time To Die doesn't come across as urgent as Visiter did, focusing instead on more fleshed out songs (nothing clocks in at less than four minutes) and complex melodies. This formula works in some places (specifically with the catchy interweaving guitars on "Longform" and the overlapping vocals on "Two Medicines"), but fails overall to make Time To Die more appealing than Visiter as tracks like "Small Deaths," "The Strums," and "Acorn Factory" slow down the pace of the album and don't bring anything new to the table. Although The Dodos strike out a few times on Time To Die, there's still enough potential here to keep me interested in what their next album will sound like. Fans of their previous albums will definitely take interest in at least a handful of songs on Time To Die, making it enough of a worthwhile download.

DOWNLOAD: The Dodos - Time To Die [Frenchkiss]
Recommended Tracks: "Longform," "This Is A Business," "Two Medicines," "A Time To Die."