Once again I don't feel as though the band's lead-singer, Meric Long, is running at me with tear-streamed eyes desperately probing me for sympathy with his acoustic guitar and sentimental views on the world. Nor is he plastered on the album's artwork looking important, serious, artistic, etc. In fact, the artwork was drawn by a school child who sent the drawing to The Dodos after they played a set in a classroom for them.

The Dodos, on this album, are Meric Long (guitar/banjo) and Logan Kroeber (percussion/drums). 'Visiter' is mostly minimal in-terms of its sound that flies with such a refreshing, determined and constant-focus through its instrumentation that it really caught me immediately from the first play. Long's finger-picking ranges from intricate and deep to fast and hurried. The band possess a great energy, further emphasised by Kroeber's unrelenting, pounding-presence through an album that would perhaps only be half as well executed without him.

Songs like 'Fools', 'Ashely' and 'Undeclared' prove that The Dodos can nail an effective song with melodic gold, whilst the almost-epic 'Joe's Waltz', 'Jodi' and 'The Season' flex Long and Koeber's song-writing skills by carefully rushing the listener through many different tempos, segues and intricate spells all held together by Long's confident, congenial and no-nonsense vocals.