Album Review: Doss- Self-Titled EP

Sometime last year, I had wandered into an Express clothing store. I’m not really sure why, since someone like me isn’t their demographic, but as I was dramatic surprised (by how expensive their clothing is) and underwhelmed (by how boring their clothing is), blaring from the PA system on high, I heard an amazing song.

Using my mobile phone’s Shazam application, I was able to identify it as the song “Clarity” by someone named Zedd, featuring someone named Foxes. Or it possibly features a group of real foxes. Anyway, I was struck by how earnest and overwrought it was with emotion—and it’s attempt at a “club” sound brought to mind only one scene, which I later described on Facebook as the feeling like you are in a packed, sweaty club, pressed up a bunch of other young people, all out searching for something.

It’s that kind of feeling that, to an extent, Alice Deejay perfected with her 90s anthem “Better Off Alone.”

Earlier this year, because the internet, I was introduced in a round about way to the music of a woman named Chippy Nonstop—specifically her song “Alone,” which was reminiscent of both “Clarity” and “Better Off Alone” in its ability to create this feeling I’ve described.

And now here we are at Doss.

Who is Doss? Well that’s tough to say. She’s signed to Acephale, who have just released her self-titled EP. There’s little revealed about her by her mysterious and elaborate website, so it would seem that she’s letting these four songs speak for themselves.

At its finest moments, Doss is some of the dreamiest electronic music out there right now. Both the opening track, and first single, “The Way I Feel,” as well as the release’s centerpiece, “Here Tonight,” are beyond belief in how incredible they are musically, as well as their uncanny ability to create that atmosphere and feeling.

“Here Tonight” is actually the EP’s crowning achievement. Inexplicably falling somewhere in between “Heaven or Las Vegas” by the Cocteau Twins, and “Here With Me” by Dido (yes, really), it’s the kind of song that the only visual accompaniment you need is a .gif of Audrey Horne, swaying back and forth at the Double R, as it floats along, escorting you into another world.

One thing that is apparent throughout the course of Doss is her ability as a performer to naturally incorporate vocal manipulation and rhythmic patterns as an instrument.  And while both “Here Tonight” and “The Way I Feel” are the two standouts because they maintain a very serious trance-music inspired deadpan delivery, Doss switches gears on “Softpretty” and “Extended Play.”

Neither of which are bad songs by any stretch of the imagination—but they attempt a lighter, more fun vibe to sharply contrast the other songs.  Both have a very shiny, pop music feel to them, and the 90s drum ‘n bass beats are very akin to some of the work from her label mates, the now defunct Minneapolis project Elite Gymnastics.

Doss is the kind of release that—I hate to refer to a cliché here—but it leaves you wanting more. Because it clocks in at such a short running time, and because these four songs are so outstanding, when it finishes up, there is a small wave of disappointment. The other side to that feeling is maybe this is just the right amount of a good thing. Unless Doss can just keep shitting out brilliant electronic compositions like this, a full album might stretch an idea like this just a little too thin.

Like many electronic artists before her, shrouding yourself in mystery and near anonymity helps create a buzz, and it lures curious listeners in. And thankfully, the music here is excellent enough to keep people’s attention after the gimmick has worn off.

Doss is out now as a vinyl EP or a digital download, via Acephale.