- The Do
A Mouthful, the debut album by French/Finnish duo the Dø, was released overseas in 2008, but it only got its U.S. release earlier this year on Six Degrees, and that was the first time I’d heard the band. Singer and guitarist Olivia Merilahti and multi-instrumentalist Dan Levy whip up a deliberately quirky, wide-ranging sound that seems to pit youthful insouciance against mature sophistication, and their best songs have irresistible pop melodies at their hearts. Every time I hear a tune like “At Last!” (which you can check out for yourself below), I get sucked in further—it gets everything right, from the rough edges on Merilahti’s sweet voice to the galloping percussion to a chorus that retains all the good things about Scandinavian pop but ditches the ethereal haze that often drags it down.