Singer-songwriter dodie’s sophomore album, Not For Lack Of Trying, released on 3 October 2025, is a gorgeous alt-pop/folk record that explores the chaos of young adulthood. It is an album that surprises you with every new track; with lush orchestral accompaniment, jazz-inspired melodies and intimate acoustic guitar and voice sections. It still holds the core folk-inspired rawness and beauty at its core, and never gets too overwhelming or sonically confusing.
The opening track ‘I’m Fine’ contains many of dodie’s signature sounds: a mellow, handpicked acoustic guitar line, beautiful soaring vocal harmonies, and string orchestration with a piano and soft percussion grounding the song down. Her modal melody makes the song feel fairy-like in a way, with the harmonies creating a sort of floating atmosphere that makes you feel like you are levitating.
The following tracks twist away from this, to a lighter mood with a more singable next couple of songs, a bass-heavy ‘Hold Fire,’ and the bossa nova-inspired ‘I Feel Bad For You, Dave.’ This allows the album to remain interesting and never predictable. However, the second half returns to a quieter mood that reflects the initial atmosphere, with introspective lyrics and a vulnerable atmosphere created by dodie’s breathy style of singing.
dodie also creates a folk-forest ambience by including a sample of birds twittering in ‘Smart Girl’ and ‘Different’. The sonic landscape of this half of the album can be described as sunlight filtering through trees, with strings adding a cinematic effect, especially in ‘The End’.
Furthermore, the production on this album is fantastic, with all instruments balancing each other in perfect harmony so that the rich arrangements do not become too overpowering but instead fill the sonic space and allow for intensity at exactly the right moments. It is a beautiful listen that makes for a perfect companion in the quiet days of autumn.
“180228 Dodie Clark You Tour at Brussels La Madeleine” by DancingInSpace is licensed under CC BY 3.0.