Doves - 'Some Cities' (Heavenly)
2/5
By: Matt Tomiak
Sometimes, it's the standing still that can feel like the most regressive move.
'Some Cities' is Doves' third album. It marks a point where a band's sound should contain some evidence of development, of evolution, of progress. Hell, with the Stereophonics threatening to morph into a Welsh version of Radio 4 on their new album, surely Doves LP number three would provide ample opportunity for Messrs Goodwin, Goodwin and Williams to broaden their gloomy horizons?
A cursory glance across the track-listing doesn't suggest this is likely to be the case - 'The Storm,' 'Sky Starts Falling', 'Shadows of Salford', for goodness sake. We all know by now that the trio do Aching, northern melancholia as well as anyone.
And there's plenty of that here, again. 'Some Cities' contains very little that would have felt out of place on the Mancunians' magnificently morose debut 'Lost Souls' or the scopious follow-up, 'The Last Broadcast'. But crucially, there's nothing this time around as classically pop as 'Catch The Sun', or as ruthlessly ambitious as
'There Goes The Fear' (although 'Walk In Fire' feels like an attempt to resurrect the latter's spirit - yet it ends up as little more than a lukewarm rehash).
Sure, the glistening, Mercury-Rev-on-a-British-hiking-trip whoosh of 'Snowden' and the organ-driven shuffle of 'Black & White Town' are enjoyable moments. But with an ever-expanding legion of tantalizing, danceable guitar bands ready to shine in 2005, the prospect of three scruffy blokes ploughing on with their disconsolate tales of drab, drizzly existences just isn't that appealing.
Artists in this article: Doves
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