Meric Long & Logan Kroeber of the Dodos

What's the Deal? This Bay Area outfit cross-references bluegrass guitar, mandolin, vast percussion, and orchestral arrangements into a mildly freaky yet no less tangy folk salad. The exciting twist: All this sound comes from just two people. On their sophomore album, Visiter, it all comes together with cunning cohesion, their studio tinkering giving birth to tracks like "Winter," where the duo reels in strumming mandolin, sustained rim-and-tom clatter, and discordant horns with a simple, swaying vocal harmony. Throughout the record, familiar indie melodies ultimately seal together abstract approaches that might otherwise sound like traveled upon l'freak pour l'freak efforts.

Who? San Francisco's Meric Long (guitars, many other things) and Logan Kroeber (percussion) gained attention for their sweaty, visceral live shows, and now they've signed with Frenchkiss records to release Visiter on March 18. Having toured with fellow neo-folk acts Akron/Family and Peter & the Wolf, the Dodos are poised for a big coming out party at SXSW next week.

Fun Fact: In order to achieve his multi-layered percussive clatter, Kroeber fashioned his own tambourine shoes.

Now Hear This:
The Dodos, "Fools" DOWNLOAD MP3

On the Web:
The Dodos on MySpace