I'd imagine that listening to a Doves
record in these United States is a completely different experience than
giving their melodious Britpop a spin across the pond. For all we know,
the Manchester trio has been quietly releasing some of the most
grandiose, meticulously produced albums of the decade, receiving little
of the fanfare that accompanies any career move made by their Satriani-jacking
peers. Experiencing a Doves album in the U.S. is oddly both an intimate
and epic affair. Despite the vastness of their sound, the band still
manages to come off as though they're singing directly into their
listeners' ears; whether that's because of their relative obscurity here
or their talent for crafting deeply personal songs remains to be seen.
However, the sonic grandeur of their tunes is befitting of their stature
in the U.K. In the land where they are bona fide arena rock stars, their
apparent earnestness must be somewhat cloying, like millionaires
insisting that they go through the same problems as the rest of us as
they drive around in Bentleys and Lotuses. That being said, their fourth
album, Kingdom of Rust, won't convert anyone that didn't like
Doves before. For Americans, this means more stadium-sized anthems that
we can identify with on a personal level, that will make us both
question (and be thankful for) why they're not any bigger on our shores.
For British listeners, any backlash they may have suffered before is
bound to continue.
Kingdom of Rust contains the same mix of atmospheric rockers and
heartfelt ballads that has characterized each of their records. However,
atmospheric rockers and heartfelt ballads happen to be the band's
greatest strengths, so there is absolutely no love lost for sticking to
the proven formula. In the atmospheric rockers department, we have the
pulsating opening track "Jetstream," the harmonizing electric guitar
arpeggios of "Winter Hill," and the maximalist stomp and assault of
"House of Mirrors." The piano-led, slow-crescendo balladry of
"10:03"
inexplicably features an arrangement by Tom Rowlands of the
Chemical
Brothers, while "Bird Flew Backwards" showcases frontman
Jimi Goodwin's
penchant for making sparse melodies stand out in dense production. Doves
succeed in giving fans their fix of new music that sounds fresh without
altering the formula so much as to alienate any of their devotees.
