Doves: Kingdoms of Rust

4th studio release from Cheshire based 3 piece after a four year wait since “Some Cities”. I say 3 piece, I don’t know why their keyboardist is not afforded full band member status.

Like Elbow, Doves seem to resurrect a progressive rock resonance into their contemporary indie vibe, although for my tastes, Doves accomplish the task even more proficiently than Elbow.

There is scant evidence on display for their dance-floor past lives indeed the vocals on “Winter Hill” remind me more of Jagger singing “Lady Jane”.

“Compulsion” features a well defined funky bass line aping Blondie at their height.

“House of Mirrors” is one of the standout tracks with its hammering drums and rapid keyboards and jarring guitars.

I’m at a complete loss at to why albums like this don’t outsell the likes of Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida”. I propose too many people select their musical purchases based on band label popularity (like buying the current in-vogue designer label clothes), or perhaps marrying an actress means that you can make better music? There’s almost an argument for releasing all albums in plain white sleeves so they have to be judged purely on the merit of the music. No wait, the Beatles have already done that. Just listen to the music people, and then make your judgements. Music is art not fashion. That reminds me, does anyone else get really annoyed with young girls wearing Ramones T Shirts when they’ve clearly never seen them? Oh hang about I seem to have switched from review mode to rant mode. Best stop now.