Photo by Dylan Nolte
Across four EPs, London’s Doe has slowly refined a sound that’s equal parts Weezer and Sleater-Kinney. On February 24, they’re collecting these EPs and putting them together as First Four, a debut album that shows just how quickly they’ve progressed in a few years. The trio’s roots are in their local DIY punk scene, and it shows in the band’s jagged guitar playing. But there’s a braininess in the ways the guitar parts intersect, not to mention the give-and-take between Nicola and Jake, Doe’s co-vocalists. On album-standout “Julia Survived,” the band offers up a pop-rock ballad about heartbreak–well-traveled territory but given new life by Doe’s youthful exuberance.
–Art Levy
