Not For Lack Of Trying

the take

The only project I've checked out by dodie so far was her EP "Human", and I stumbled across that by accident. I'm not that tapped into her music, but shit, if I enjoyed "Human", then I'm bound to enjoy "Not for Lack of Trying", right? At first, I wasn't sure if I was a fan of how the album sounds very similar to what I've experience on "Human", especially with how the first two tracks are. Like, dodie's angelic vocals over wonderful production that contains beautiful instrumentation is pretty obvious here. I didn't want to feel like I'm getting an exact second helping of what I already got (musically speaking). To me, I paid attention to the songwriting on here more than last time and found it very creative and witty (at least by dodie's standards) to where both her words and the music grabbed me and put me in a chokehold. Songs like "I Feel Bad for You, Dave", "Tall Kids", and the title track are all ones that I fell in love with on first listen, but the whole album is great. "Not for Lack of Trying" doesn't do too much to want to be seen, as it's a calm, lush and relaxing album that helps you unwind and get in your sentimental feels.