ComfortComes

Review: Doves – The Places Between: The Best Of Doves

Ten Years ago, I walked into a used record store a few miles away from my childhood home with my brother and began searching through the racks. It was one of my favorite traditions in my teenage years. I remember picking up the copy of “Lost Souls” – the debut album of Doves – and seeing the giant “IMPORT” sticker on the front cover and marveling at the cover art. I decided it was worth the risk. I rushed home with my copy of “Lost Souls” and a few Echo and The Bunnymen records and got to work.

“Lost Souls” was one of those life changing albums. These types of records are few and far between in your life but this album hit a emotional and mental note with me. After all these years I still have these feelings for the record.

It is a bit of an understatement to say that I am a huge fan of the band. Greatest hits collections are always likely to be a hit and miss purchase. What makes me recommend this one, however, is the fact that it has made me fall in love with the first two Doves albums all over again. “There Goes The Fear” and “The Cedar Room” are two of the songs here that would go in my all time favourite list. The set does give longtime fans something to grab onto the DVD with all the videos and the new song have convinced me to throw down some cash in order for it to have a permanent place in my collection.

Doves – Kingdom Of Rust

Brit-pop lullaby rockers Doves offer their latest – a critically favored piece that revels in minimal composition and big production.

These guys are no strangers to the indie rock scene; The band has released four LPs since their full length debut in 2000. In 9 years they have been subjects of near universal critical praise, and this, their latest, continues that tradition. Even still, it does not quite sound like the self assured collection of songs one might expect from a band with a decade of widely publicized experience under their belts.

The voice of Jimi Goodwin sometimes mirrors the tonal quality of fellow Britpop frontman Chris Martin – a comparison, to be sure, that has haunted him since the band’s initial exposure – though Goodwin lacks his contemporary artfully restrained, and notably mature, delivery style. Seeming to lack confidence in his own poetry, he often over-emotes. “Winter Hill”, though immediately engaging, never resonates on an emotional level because of the dramatized intonations clouding every line. Elsewhere, we have moments of stifling “perfection.” The Rapture-esque, funky “Compulsion”, with mechanical basslines and unwavering vocals, glares with a clinical white sheen. This is less of an issue in “10:03″, in which the voice sounds raspy and wrecked – almost certainly the result of an extended recording session. Because of this, it feels far less contrived, and therefore more believable.

Opening track “Jetstream” notably blueprints the rest of Kingdom of Rust. The song is largely percussive – with little harmony to speak of – and grandiose production. While perhaps compositionally uncomplicated, it is inarguably grand and dramatic. This appears to be the trick up Doves’ sleeve; The swells of feedback and psychedelic flutters sweetening the record are just enough to give the listener incentive to stick around for its entire duration.

Though applying very little, Doves have pinned a simple way to pacify the average indie music fan.. Its all smooth sailing from here.