The Dodos to the Medieval Park

The new album of American act The Dodos, ‘Visiter’ (French Kiss Records), might very well become one of the biggest album surprises this year, according to the Øya booking crew. It has already been extravagantly praised in the American music press. The duo consists of guitarist/singer Meric Long and the eager percussionist Logan Kroeber, who both wanted to make psychedelia-sprinkled folk and pop. The Dodos originate from a solo project that Long named Dodo Bird. In 2006 they made their debut with the album ‘Beware of the Maniacs’, and with the follow-up it appears that they’ll recruit a significant number of new followers to their fan base. The San Francisco-duo combines raw energy with clever songwriting and a generally optimistic feel to their music. With acoustic guitar, drums, and other rhythm instruments they make magical pop that’ll make you think of Flower Children, good ol’ American songwriting tradition, and acoustic campfire coziness on drugs. However, the music never becomes just weary string plucking, as they’re not afraid kick it into high gear, both energy- and tempo-wise.

The Øya emissaries tagged along with the band’s record company to see them perform on a solar cell-powered stage in Austin during SXSW earlier this year. A good idea, it seemed, but it turned out that the weather conditions were a bit too bad for the solar cells to generate enough electricity to operate the PA. Power failures aside, The Dodos still managed to deliver a performance so good that the booking crew went to see them again, though this time on a stage with a stable power supply. That performance convinced us that we had to get The Dodos on our bill this year. Also, we weren’t the only ones who fell for these two guys. Both Pitchfork and NME put the band on their lists of hot recommendations after this year’s SXSW.

People have mentioned Animal Collective, Magnetic Fields, Elliot Smith, Sufjan Stevens, and Yeasayer when trying to find adequate comparisons for The Dodos. The duo has been on the road with bands as different as Les Savy Fav and Woven Hand. We can easily picture them fitting in nicely in both contexts. At the Øya Festival you can get to see a rather extraordinary pop duo that delivers semi-weird and lovely pop tunes.

The Dodos on MySpace
The Dodos official homepage

Tomorrow, the fourth of the five bands we fell for at SXSW will be released. Get ready for some rock’n’roll mayhem!