Before he was the man anchoring Andrew Bird’s live show, Minneapolis based Martin Dosh was just fine making a big noise on his own.

On Tommy — his sixth album for San Francisco based imprint anticon. — the talented percussionist extraordinaire adds a few more solid passages to his storied career and demonstrates his technical prowess and musical dexterity.

There’s a lot to pay attention to on this almost 45-minute assemblage of the trademark loops, jazz drumming, subtle bass lines, and smart programming that have made the 37-year-old’s live shows legendary.

Listeners will feel his restraint when he gives compositions enough room to breath, and he still manages to pack the songs with just enough layers to warrant numerous listens. By only recording vocals for only a few tracks, Dosh? gives the listener space to absorb the mood of the record. The problem is that the mood seems to be all over the place and it takes a few songs to get settled in.

“Subtractions” is a kinetic blend of sound where it’s too easy to get lost amongst all of the marimba, saxophone, and vocal scat. “Yer Face” comes with a head bobbing drum figure, pedal steel, and an Andrew Bird vocal that may have worked better as an instrumental melody. The Birdman doesn’t really add anything to the song, and all anyone’s listening to by the end of the piece is a reversed loop and twinkling piano fading away.

Still, despite the album’s schizophrenic nature, the songs can stand on their own, and each one makes it’s own unique contribution. “Airlift” hides some spectacular low end beneath synth, a swirling melody, and energetic high hat.

Album highlight “Country Road X” feels like its name and really demonstrates the emotional weight that silence and subtlety can create. The track creates a serene atmosphere by losing the hyper-drive rhythms and trading them in for sharp programming and resonating piano before closing with a window rattling bass line.
Dosh? saves the best for last on Tommy. The album’s closer “Gare De Lyon” is a triumphant eight-minute build up of sound with a vocal sample that states “you really have to get yourself to the point where you understand what tomorrow brings.” The song then proceeds to culminate in nearly two-minutes of cymbal crashes, distorted power chords, and pounding floor tom. While the album as a whole may not be Dosh’s best effort, this closing track definitely leaves listeners something to hope for.