As befits any Manchester band of standing, Doves have garnered a reputation as merchants of melancholia with a penchant for layered, trumpeting psychedelia.
Oddly enough, Doves’ first two albums The Last Broadcast and Lost Souls aren’t bound by this northern geography – evoking far-off, otherworldly sonic landscapes and windswept sea-views, they’re the quintessential Manchester band whose music doesn’t hint at its considerable heritage.
With that, Doves have announced Some Cities as their ‘crunching, urban’ album. Certainly, a quick scan of the track titles suggests that this could well be a love letter to the bleak streets of Greater Manchester (‘Shadows of Salford’, ‘Black And White Town’). So should we expect forbidding, aggressive, forlorn songs about concrete playgrounds, graffiti and burnt-out cars? Should we heck.
Granted, Some Cities rages with a certain urgency, the sounds of a stolen car ride, charging from the outset with ‘Some Cities’, a thumping, forceful track that impressively kicks off proceedings. However, after this, the album is ripe with lush, pastoral texture, and is Doves’ most uplifting and thoroughly confident work to date.
Far from being an ‘urban’ work born of the northern streets, Some Cities was written for the most part in the Peak District, and recorded in Brixton and Lough Ness…and boy does it show. Producer Ben Hillier, the wunderkind behind Elbow’s exalted album Cast Of Thousands, gives the album its quietly explosive hum. ‘Snowden’ is a soaring, angelic number with a bitter, jagged centre, while ‘Black And White Town’ is so downright peppy, it’s the kind of music a Xanaxed housewife might do the vacuuming to.
As far as follow-ups go, Some Cities is an unexpected, though no less welcome, diversion. Make no mistake though; Doves are very much in full flight.

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