Album Review: Dodie - 'Not for Lack Of Trying'
Celebrating nearly ten years of releasing music, Dodie’s new album is a lesson in growth and self acceptance.
Dodie has been enchanting listeners with her featherlight vocals, devastating lyricism and cinematic orchestration for years. What started with her YouTube channel, doddleoddle, has over time blossomed into an incredible artistic career that has seen her take on stages all over the world, collaborate with incredible artists like Jacob Collier, Tom Walker and Jeff Goldbloom and compose music that resonated with millions. Since releasing her critically acclaimed debut album ‘Build a Problem’ in 2021, she cofounded Fizz, a supergroup made up of regular collaborators and close friends Orla Gartland, Greta Isaac and Martin Luke Brown. Now, she returns back to her roots with the stunning new album ‘Not For Lack of Trying’, a reflection on all the milestones of the last few years.
A searing dissection of life in your twenties and the existential fear that comes with their end, ‘Not For Lack of Trying’ sees Dodie try to rediscover who she is. Things begin with the brilliantly titled ‘I’m Fine’ in which she is determined to assert that she is just that; fine. A simple guitar line that accompanies her signature airy vocals begins to evolve like arms and legs growing as harmonies come in on lines like ‘no its her dream’ before everything comes clashing together in what sounds like the THX sound in harmonic dissonance. The notes are too close together, creating uncomfortable tones and subharmonics, deliberately taking time before their musical resolution. Her wit and self deprecating lyrics demonstrate a sort of meta self awareness : she knows all too well that we can see the cracks as plainly as she can and the instrumental section that closes the track and opens up the rest of the album gives space for everyone to be in on the joke. There is a shared understanding that we are all kind of in the same boat and listeners new and old immediately find a sense of community in the knowledge that we’re all facing the difficulties together-even when we pretend not to be. The hope then is that by the end of the albums journey, Dodie (and by extension everyone else in the boat) can really mean it when we say ‘I’m Fine’.
Dodie has always had an incredible ability for articulating and putting into words complex issues and nuanced subject matter. Similarly to how she did on sister album ‘Build A Problem’, she effortlessly navigates through intimate portraits of her life with reflections on everything from falling in love, breaking up, comparison culture and struggles with depression. To her fans, she is a fiercely honest voice in a world of online creators who all-too-often present idealised versions of themselves in their endeavours to influence. Her vulnerability and candour is the backbone of ‘Not For Lack of Trying’, coming through in varying degrees on all twelve tracks. Across the album we see her have honest conversations about boundaries (Hold Fire), reflections and explorations of her sexuality and sensuality (The List) and trips down memory lane as she revisits her younger self as she is trying to navigate social hierarchies (Tall Kids). On personal favourite ‘Now’ meanwhile, she challenges herself to write from a place she is working towards - a headspace and mentality she aims to inhabit one day. She explains ‘I wrote that from the perspective of being the happiest I could be at a time when I was feeling really bad’ and in a lot of ways, it looks back to how the album began with ‘I’m Fine’. Not only are they thematically similar, but their orchestrations are like different sides of a coin. Soft strumming guitar, floaty vocals, just this time sung truly in earnest.
As is typical for all her projects, the album is full of collaboration and features from friends and family alike. Working between London and Los Angeles, she produced alongside Joe Rubel whose vocals can be heard peppered throughout. There are co-writing credits for Peter Miles, who she composed ‘The Answer’ with at his Middle Farm Studio in Devon. Her own mum, Astrid, has a feature on the aforementioned track where she beautifully delivers a guest spoken word verse. Its not just on the music either, the idea of it taking a village translates across all areas of this project. For the music video for ‘I’m Fine’ Dodie brought in close creative collaborator Sammy Paul to direct with interpretative choreography from Miranda Chambers. Elsewhere, for ‘I feel bad for you, Dave’ there is a cameo from Jeff Goldblum, with whom she performed as part of his tour with the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra earlier this year.
Though many of the songs are introspective and at times philosophical, there is plenty of room for joy and love, none more so than ‘Darling, Angel, Baby’. Having released two complex and thoughtful tracks, this was the third single to be released in anticipation of the album drop and it is about none other than her beloved cat, Mrs. A key figure in the dodieverse, Mrs is a tuxedo cat whom she co-parents with bandmate and flatmate Greta Isaac, who also just so happens to have background vocals on the track. Impossibly catchy, its pared-down structure help the subject matter to shine front and centre with lyrics often falling in line with what you would expect from a love song. Lines like ‘No one could know me like you do / Many have tried, nothing's quite like holding you’ could easily fit into a song about a romantic partner, but here when sung as an ode to a pet take on a more playful meaning, indicating just how big a part our furry friends can play in our lives. The repeated chorus ‘Darling! Angel! Baby! Mrs!’ will no doubt become an earworm for many and it is one of the moments I am particularly excited to hear live with thousands in the audience joining in.
Whether you are someone who is stuck wondering whether or not everyone around you feels the same way about the world around us or just looking for recognition and assurance that life beyond your twenties will be okay, ‘Not For Lack of Trying’ is the perfect listen. Stunning in both its sonics and substance, it goes to show what artists can create when given the space and time. Though there was never any real doubt from her fans, its so wonderful to see Dodie return with such a triumph, especially as she begins the celebrations of ten years of releasing music. Next week to celebrate the release of the album Dodie embarks on a tour around the UK. She has made a considered choice to perform at smaller, more intimate venues, giving better opportunities to connect with and maybe even meet fans. Almost all dates, including extras that were added due to wild demand have sold out. Once these are finished, what she has dubbed ‘the big tour’ kicks off, taking her around Europe for 13 back-to-back dates before 6 more shows in the UK in November and on top of that plans to cross the pond in the spring.
Words by Kirstie Thomson
