Nestled amongst the shuttered garages and desolate industry that proved the unlikely backdrop for Saturday’s show, Mun in Mullae hosted the eight-limbed indie rock brace that is The Dodos. Descending in the hot night air to the subterranean art cavern it’s clear that the venue ticks all the right boxes for the band’s particular brand of intimate, sweaty rock and roll.
Before the San Francisco duo unveiled their audio wares, however, they were given some sterling support from Seoul-spawned local favourites, New Blue Death and Sighborggggg. If by some heroic feat of pore control any audience members had managed to make it through these two energetic and highly enjoyable sets without submitting to relentless torrents of rock-induced perspiration, then The Dodos were all too happy to put an end to that.
Launching into proceedings with the pneumatic opener, ‘Black Night’, Meric Long and Logan Kroeber immediately captivated the crowd. That and closer, ‘Good’, were the only tracks to appear from the two-piece’s most recent full-length No Color but the older material featured levels of gusto that would make Brian Blessed proud, not to mention some of the most beautiful yelps in modern music.
Kroeber’s drumming has often pleasurably trespassed on the ground usually strictly reserved for guitars in rock music and in this live setting his drum-hitting skills were regularly the focus of the the show. Not to say that Long was in anyway eclipsed, the guitarist’s distinctive vocals managed to sound both elated and melancholy at the same time on songs like ‘Ashley’ and ‘Jodi’ and the physical proximity to the audience made for a fascinating display.
The band no longer count Time to Die vibraphonist Keaton Snyder amongst their number and so no tracks from their third full-length were performed. However, stripping back again seems to have allowed them to focus on what they do best and their idiosyncratic brand of minimal folk-rock dazzled Friday’s exhilarated assembly.
SuperColorSuper brought The Dodos to Korea. Their next event is , an art party at Sindorim Station on Saturday June 1st.
Words and photographs by Mike Beech
