The Dodos, or I guess just Dodos now but I'll ignore that, dupe us for a second. No Color opener "Black Night" is very nearly a return to form, sounding jangly and lively and even if it's rare there are the reverbator-soaked yelps from Visiter, and it's exciting and Meric Long's voice seems to just be getting smoother with experience. My run-on should tell you that if you haven't hit that play button up there, you should. It's a great and fun song, and after the ultimately forgettable frumpy slump of their last album it's refreshing.

Even the couple of tracks after it are good as well, playing with those quirky loudQUIETloud dynamics. Long's melodies are in general much smoother than anything on Visiter, a lot of the manic energy from that album is still somewhat absent, replaced with an almost laid back and comfortable vibe. "Sleep" is another obvious highlight, with an oddly metered chorus eventually accompanied by strings that make it oddly beautiful and powerful---especially when the near-Beatles style breakdown/freakout kicks in at the end.

But then the album gets kind of boring. Maybe it's the same problem that last album that shall not be named had, where everything just sounds too similar. I wonder why that is? I don't know enough about music to even begin to guess, which is unfortunate 'cause I'd love to be like, "They're all in the same key!" or "His melodies are too similar because he relies on the same modes!" or something that sounds intelligent. Maybe it's just that all the songs are too noisy now. Visiter was an album full of moments of silence, where you could practically feel the emptiness of the room these two lone guys were playing in. That feeling is now gone, and with it much of the charm.

A lot of Visiter was great because of how brave and experimental it was. There hasn't been another "Walking" from The Dodos. Long's voice hasn't soared like that on an album since, and that's sad. That ridiculous but charming "Undeclared" song exists in no other forms. The weird twangy solo riffs of "Jody". Their songs were full of randomness, you could never really be sure exactly where they'd go next. They should take a page from Rilo Kiley, how Blake Sennett always has a funny-odd little track on each album, and make sure they touch on certain quirk cornerstone left-hooks every album. On No Color every song seems to sound a bit like the next. Maybe it'll grow on me over time, but I don't know if I'll try to let it.

"Black Night", great song though!