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Doves: Kingdom of Rust
Written by James Gorman.
Few bands have come to the world’s attention on the strength of a debut like Doves’ Lost Souls, an album that set an almost impossibly high standard. Nine years and three albums later, the band still have an awful lot to live up to.
Like its two immediate predecessors, Kingdom of Rust falls short of greatness but it is mostly a strong and accomplished album. The basic elements are present; tightly structured songs, great hooks, singalong choruses and immaculate production. The success of this formula is exemplified by 'Spellbound', which charges and soars like clockwork. This is hearty music from a group who are, by now, thoroughly comfortable in their collective skin. Indeed, you could be forgiven for mistaking comfort for complacency; it is hard not to suspect that a lot of these songs have been written and perfected before. For that reason, album closer 'Lifelines' comes as a welcome surprise. Sounding quite unlike anything that precedes it, the track is a thumping tribute to perseverance in the face of adversity. It is fresh, invigorating and sincere and may just be one of the first great pop songs of 2009.
Doves: Official website | MySpace | on Spotify
The Hours: See The Light
Written by Rich Powell.
They say good things come to those who wait; but Antony Genn (formerly of Elastica, Pulp and Joe Strummer’s band The Mescaleros) and Martin Slattery (formerly of Black Grape and Joe Strummer’s band The Mescaleros, are you seeing the link?) got tired of waiting so they got up and formed The Hours. Since their 2007 debut album Narcissus Road, they’ve picked up five extra members and the production expertise of Flood (U2, Depeche Mode, Sigur Rós) and the culmination is a shiny new album complete with spin-painting artwork from Damien Hirst.
But right from the album’s opening it becomes evident that all this gloss has by no means detracted from the candour that made Narcissus Road so compelling; tracks like stomping, piano-led taster-single 'Big Black Hole' (a song about alcoholism) and the explosively compassionate 'Come On', sit brilliantly side-by-side with more epic, string-emblazed efforts like the call-to-arms of 'These Days' or the title track’s confrontation of depression.
It’s true the topics covered here are dark indeed, but Genn and Slattery have both tackled anyone’s fair share of problems and it shows; rarely will you hear a band deliver songs with such direct honesty and such lack of pretension. From the snarling retrospective romance disaster of 'Car Crash' to the unstoppable drive of 'Love is an Action', the blunt sincerity in Genn’s voice is almost tangible. See The Light is an album that cuts straight to the soul from a band that really cares; The Hours might be just what the world needs right now.
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