Biography
Unpredictable yet instantly identifiable, the Dodos fuse buoyant melodies with Logan Kroeber’s restless, experimental drumming and the agile guitar work of vocalist Meric Long. Across albums such as their 2008 indie breakthrough Visiter and 2011’s Billboard 200 debut No Color, the pair blended exploratory folk and indie rock before shifting toward a denser, electric-guitar-driven approach during the 2010s. Electronics and noise entered the picture on the band’s seventh studio album, 2018’s Certainty Waves, only for the Dodos to reclaim an acoustic emphasis on the lively, warm Grizzly Peak in 2021.
Meric Long first assembled the project in San Francisco in 2006 under the name Dodobird; the arrival of fellow West Coast musician Logan Kroeber, whose progressive-metal and experimental drumming sensibilities meshed with Long’s interest in West African Ewe drumming and country-blues fingerpicking, prompted the name change to the Dodos. That same year the duo self-released their acoustic debut Beware of the Maniacs. Their more energetic Frenchkiss label debut Visiter arrived in 2008 and reached number 31 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart. After enlisting electric vibraphonist Keaton Snyder, Long and Kroeber worked with producer Phil Ek on 2009’s Time to Die, a more expansive effort that climbed to number eight on the Heatseekers chart. Returning to the leaner approach of Visiter, they enlisted Neko Case as guest vocalist for 2011’s No Color, which entered the Billboard 200 at number 70.
The sudden death of touring member Chris Reimer, also of the Canadian band Women, left Long and Kroeber stunned in 2012 and prompted a thorough reappraisal of the group and, for Long especially, his songwriting and guitar technique. Issued in 2013 on Polyvinyl, their fifth album Carrier reflected this more restrained outlook. Two years later the band reemerged with the bolder Individ, recorded soon after Carrier; the set spent one week at number 50 on the independent albums chart.
An indefinite hiatus followed Individ, during which Long issued the solo album Barton's Den under the moniker FAN on Polyvinyl in May 2018, drawing inspiration from synthesizers passed down by his father. The Dodos reconvened that October to record Certainty Waves, an album that retained the duo’s signature guitar-and-drums interplay while incorporating Long’s growing fascination with electronic textures.
Their eighth studio album marked a retreat from the increasingly amplified, layered sound that had evolved through the 2010s. Revisiting the original notion of capturing the resonance within a guitar itself, the Dodos delivered the more acoustic-oriented Grizzly Peak on Polyvinyl in 2021.
Meric Long first assembled the project in San Francisco in 2006 under the name Dodobird; the arrival of fellow West Coast musician Logan Kroeber, whose progressive-metal and experimental drumming sensibilities meshed with Long’s interest in West African Ewe drumming and country-blues fingerpicking, prompted the name change to the Dodos. That same year the duo self-released their acoustic debut Beware of the Maniacs. Their more energetic Frenchkiss label debut Visiter arrived in 2008 and reached number 31 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart. After enlisting electric vibraphonist Keaton Snyder, Long and Kroeber worked with producer Phil Ek on 2009’s Time to Die, a more expansive effort that climbed to number eight on the Heatseekers chart. Returning to the leaner approach of Visiter, they enlisted Neko Case as guest vocalist for 2011’s No Color, which entered the Billboard 200 at number 70.
The sudden death of touring member Chris Reimer, also of the Canadian band Women, left Long and Kroeber stunned in 2012 and prompted a thorough reappraisal of the group and, for Long especially, his songwriting and guitar technique. Issued in 2013 on Polyvinyl, their fifth album Carrier reflected this more restrained outlook. Two years later the band reemerged with the bolder Individ, recorded soon after Carrier; the set spent one week at number 50 on the independent albums chart.
An indefinite hiatus followed Individ, during which Long issued the solo album Barton's Den under the moniker FAN on Polyvinyl in May 2018, drawing inspiration from synthesizers passed down by his father. The Dodos reconvened that October to record Certainty Waves, an album that retained the duo’s signature guitar-and-drums interplay while incorporating Long’s growing fascination with electronic textures.
Their eighth studio album marked a retreat from the increasingly amplified, layered sound that had evolved through the 2010s. Revisiting the original notion of capturing the resonance within a guitar itself, the Dodos delivered the more acoustic-oriented Grizzly Peak on Polyvinyl in 2021.
Albums
Grizzly Peak
2021
Certainty Waves
2018
Mirror Fake
2017
Carrier
2013
Don't Try and Hide It
2011
Record Store Day 2011 - Single
2011
No Color
2011
Time to Die
2009
Visiter
2008
Beware of the Maniacs
2006
Dodo Bird
2006
Singles
