Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A pumped up Doves, 28 April 2009
Doves have always felt a little like Elbow's extrovert alter ego; a band happier being at the heart of the maelstrom than contemplating its hung-over afterglow. Whereas Elbow can be characterised more by their cap-in-hand romanticism, Doves have always been better suited to the role of escapists. For Elbow's unabashed honesty, Doves respond in kind with vistas of widescreen imagery. While neither band would claim to represent Madchester's new dawn, both are true products of the city: equal parts self-effacing and brazen.
Bury's finest produce their best when they transplant the region's deadpan wit and warmth into their songs. Doves, on the other hand, tend to concentrate on Manchester's sense of defiance - something rooted in its urban ghettos and marked by the regular occurrence of excitable terrace anthems (Catch the Sun, There Goes The Fear, Pounding, Black And White Town). Though Mancunians would always emphasise the humility of their beloved city, ambition and fearlessness mark it and its music. From the seven-minute, effects-strewn epic to the casual inclusion of a full orchestra, neither band - like the city that bred them - is afraid of pulling punches.
With Kingdom Of Rust, Doves have spent a great deal of time (four years, in fact) holed up in training. As they confidently re-enter the ring as strutting light-heavyweights, they will be keen to dispel any accusations of ring rustiness. In many ways, Kingdom Of Rust feels like Doves might be trying to prove a point. Last Broadcast and Some Cities were both strong albums, challenging enough to be interesting over the long term and speckled with some stellar pop songs. Kingdom Of Rust focuses less on the charts and more on the reinvention of Doves. This is a band with no intention of quietly disappearing into the ether quite yet.
Perhaps reinvention is too strong a term but there can be no doubt that Kingdom Of Rust is leaner and more pumped up than previous efforts. People who have recently grown into Doves may have trouble acclimatising to the new album. Its layering is arguably more indulgent, its melodies are subtle and the whole thing seems less benign than its more immediately satisfying predecessors. If anything, Kingdom of Rust's sweet spots are much harder to discern. It is pretty clear that Doves have spent the extra time working hard to reward its audience in a new way. Like true Mancunians, they make you wait four years and then they have the temerity to ask that you to commit to repeat listens. Luckily, Kingdom Of Rust just keeps getting better with time.
Doves still like to set their sights on larger-than-life subject matter. Even the album's song titles speak of jetstreams, kingdoms, lifelines and being spellbound. Like previous albums, Kingdom Of Rust is quite happy tackling life's extremities. As inane as the idea of singing about a jetstream would appear to be, it doesn't prevent Doves from creating a barnstorming album opener, replete with Chemical Brothers-light electro meddling, swooping flange effects and a steady crescendo that constantly reignites like it were conceived on the shores of Cape Canaveral. The Outsiders bears all the bristling angst of BRMC's Whatever Happened To My Rock And Roll and 10:03's monstrous middle riff - lifted straight out of John Squire's Led Zep book - pounds itself through your floorboards, indiscriminately. The Greatest Denier is, put simply, a four-minute shot of something massively potent.
Doves are able to counter this widespread hysteria with beautifully measured moments such as the album's title track. Kingdom Of Rust's quiet highlight features brushstrokes, xylophones, strings and an illustration of Doves' comfortable grasp of pathos: "blackbirds flew in and to the cooling towers / I'll pack my bags / thinking of one of those hours with you / waiting for you". Aside from the occasional maudlin lull, Kingdom Of Rust prefers to spend its time drifting in and out of a dreamy state of schizophrenia, with very few pauses for breath.
Compulsion is easily the album's biggest surprise. It may have taken four albums and countless years but here is a Doves track you can legitimately shake your hips too - and it works an absolute treat. Borrowing heavily from Blondie's Rapture, its knowingly hip, libidinous baseline and massively reverbed riffage create something of a nympho-infested oasis amid the album's urban landscape of skyscrapers and football stadiums.
With the album's lyrics and song meanings often totally shrouded by a dense nebula of sound, you are often left to simply swoon over Kingdom Of Rust's beautiful and frequently electrifying chord progressions. Its blanketing melodies and unrelenting energy will hit you first, but then that has always separated them from their mates in Bury. Although Elbow are able to put far greater emphasis on Guy Garvey's angelic vocal talents, Doves are fully aware of their strengths and so is Kingdom Of Rust. Even if the album loses its way with its final two tracks, you are left so exhausted by this stage that it almost comes with a sense of relief. By reinventing what they do best, Doves have fearlessly strutted back onto everyone's radar.
|
|
|
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
when Doves cry, 10 April 2009
Ok, let's get the obligatory mention out of the way. Like Elbow, Doves are one of those bands that have toiled away producing fine albums of indie music with a nice dark hue, albeit with perhaps more chart success than the recent Mercury winners. They've never exactly oozed charm and dynamism however and it has been four years since their last release so I did wonder whether there was going to be room left for them in the music scene or if they might just be able to pull off an Elbow-style moment of triumph themselves, vindicating their fans' loyalty. I have no idea whether Kingdom Of Rust will prove to be the album that brings them recognition but it is certainly another strong collection of songs that draws on all their strengths, pushing a few new buttons along the way.
Their past as dance outfit Sub Sub has meant that they always know how to structure a song or build up a tune to maximum effect (listen to Pounding for example). The album opens with Jetstream which draws on those skills and puts the dance influences closer to the forefront, with industrial sounding lyrics to match. It's a strong opening which is followed by the far more familiar sounding title track. Jimi Goodwin's plaintive vocals conjure images of 'cooling towers' and snow covering 'The road back to Preston'. Eee, it may be grim up north but he makes it sound soulful, the melody picked out clearly by a piano with backing strings and skiffle like drums. The attempt to try something new begins The Outsiders with some horrible sounding keyboard arpeggios from a 70's sci-fi programme, which are followed by power guitars, but you can't deny the energy that runs through it.
Winter Hill plays safe with pretty standard lyrics of parting and return sung in the kind of vocal combination that has worked so well for the Gallagher brothers. Similarly 10:03 begins simply enough, a tale of homecoming sounding like the kind of Northern Blues that Richard Hawley has made his own before it suddenly builds into a crazy Who-like crescendo. Spellbound begins sounding exactly like a track from their first album but then develops into something really interesting, thick with layers of music and dark vocals 'She keeps me near so spellbound/Her love pulls me near to stranger ground /I lost my mind there/This dark magic mirror/Spellbound.'
The funky slapped bass and 80's sound of Compulsion won't be to everyone's taste, it certainly had me wrinkling my nose as if I'd walked into a bar on a themed evening of big hairdo's and lurid cocktails (the feeling was swiftly stamped away by the harsher sound of House of Mirrors). Lifelines closes the album on a far more positive note, complete with choir backing. Even the sun is in the sky. Who said it's grim up north!
I think I may have said something similar in my review of Elbow but Jimi Goodwin's voice might be the deal-breaker. Some people love it, some think it's a bit dull. It certainly doesn't vary much and that along with the slightly samey feel of some of the songs is what stops me from employing any triumphant hyperbole when describing this album. But it's certainly worth a listen and a good deal better than a lot of what's out there. The more I listen, the more I like it, and there's nothing quite like a grower.
|
|
|
19 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Manchesters finest!!, 25 Mar 2009
It's been a long 4 year wait since the last offering by Doves and I'm happy to report that it has certainly been worth the wait.
Kingdom of Rust sees Doves return with an utter epic album of eclectic tunes that takes you on a journey somehow perfectly painting a picture of the Northwest of England in a way that only Doves can do. I can hear so many influences in this album, the likes of Blondie, Bowie and the Clash to name but a few.
In my humble opinion this is Doves best album yet, surpassing the heights that The Last Broadcast reached. There is not one filler on this album. Personally, for me, Compulsion is the stand out track, that base riff is a killer..
For those of you already familiar with Doves you wont be disappointed. Those of you who aren't then go buy the album, you'll be hooked.
Around the same time last year Elbow released an album that ended with them getting the so richly deserved accolades they had been missing. One can only hope 2009 will prove to be Doves year..
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
~ Kasabian
~ Yeah Yeah Yeahs
~ White Lies
~ Florence + The Machine
~ Fleet Foxes
