Prog-jam quartet Dopapod has released Dopapod, the band’s seventh full-length LP. The eleven-track album, described by the group as the continuation of a “concept catalog” first introduced on 2014’s Never Odd Or Even, arrives alongside a number of creative tie-ins, from a board game built into the vinyl gatefold to an immersive virtual reality animation project.
Despite the impressive detail and artisanship applied to the rollout, however, it’s the album itself that glows the brightest—a brilliantly constructed document of a singular act hitting a new stride nearly a decade along. The pristinely produced record showcases the band’s wide-eyed, humorous imagination and high-concept stylistic versatility, pulling listeners to different sonic planes but making sure they’re dancing (or cracking a sly smile, or both) throughout the journey. In sound, story, breadth, creativity, and countless other metrics, Dopapod is Dopapod’s most “Dopapod” album to date—and for Dopapod, a band both driven by and beloved for its unimpeded originality, there is no greater achievement.
As the band—comprised of Eli Winderman (keys, vocals), Rob Compa (guitar, vocals), Chuck Jones (bass), and Neal “Fro” Evans (drums)—noted in a release day post, “This album is self-titled for a few reasons. This is our 7th album and Dopapod has 7 letters in the name. But more than any of that we feel like we’ve all made strides as people over the last few years and we’ve discovered the importance of self-acceptance.”
“One of the new songs on the album is called ‘Nuff’ which started as a spark from something Rob’s mom said to him a while back during our hiatus in 2018. ‘I do enough, I have enough, I am enough.’ We pride ourselves in being genuinely ourselves and being ok with where we are right now on this journey,” the note continued. “We feel incredibly fortunate to have experienced every moment this band has provided and hope to continue following this path wherever it will take us.”
Purchase or stream Dopapod in the format of your choice here or listen to the album via the Spotify player below.
Dopapod – Dopapod – Full Album
The “catalog’ concept of exploring the world of Dopapod on the LP extended into a collaboration with Tandem Media on an accompanying animation project, a partnership with Soundscape VR that saw the band debut the LP on Thursday night via an immersive audio-video experience for each song on the album. That idea blossomed from the virtual world into the physical realm by way of a new tabletop roll-and-move game built into the Dopapod vinyl gatefold. Dubbed Building A Time Machine, the game was designed by the band’s longtime team member and former lighting designer, Luke Stratton, who recently parted ways with Dopapod to pursue a career in designing role-playing games and maps.
While brainstorming album artwork ideas for Dopapod, the group realized a greater overarching journey for the new release. “We got to thinking, what if we’re building a time machine that allows us to go back through Dopapod’s history? In the game, each album is its own land, and every space on the board is a different song,” Stratton said. “We came up with the infinity loop concept and portal as a way to travel through the band’s history.” Added Compa, “It does feel like we made all these albums and made a time machine, and now we’re at the new frontier, wherever we’re going.”
The band is offering a variety of merch bundles to coincide with the Building A Time Machine board game, including game accessories such as meeple pawns, dice, game piece baggies, and Dopapod themed pads and pencils for keeping score.
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Dopapod will head out on the road this summer for a slew of festival gigs and a lengthy run of dates supporting George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic. Click below for a full list of upcoming dates. For ticketing details, head here.