The Dodos - The Visiter

There’s a lot of crazy anthropological one-upmanship going on in American alternative music at the moment. Exotic influences are getting flung ostentatiously around the place like cards in a demented game of indie top trumps played by collegiate hipsters- Dude, our Javanese Gamelan sound totally beats your Zimbabwean xylophone. The Dodos’ second album, ‘The Visiter’ is the latest record from the States to come marinated in imported musical influences, specifically West African Ewe drumming. I’ve never heard any West African Ewe drumming but, if ‘The Visiter’ is anything to go by, it must be bonkers. Drummer Logan Kroeber’s hide-rattling, polyrhythmic percussion is the beating heart and soul of this album, elevating a collection of swirling, enigmatic, acoustic folk songs to thrilling heights. During the rare few times he effectively drops the sticks (‘It’s that time again’, ‘park song’) the album sounds merely intriguing, but on songs like ‘Fools’ when the beat is in full exhilarating flow, this sounds like an album of the year.