| Doves |
| Some Cities |
| On Rolling Stone�s Web site, a listing for the band Doves� latest album, Some Cities, classifies the sound as �Brit pop.� So they�re the ones.
If an American record store set up a new release section for such a classification, the Who�s greatest hits compilations would dwarf it. Oasis settled, Blur fragmented, Travis couldn�t figure out the next step and only rock critics with a thesaurus know what to call Radiohead. Here�s what the Doves do, though � the Manchester trio makes adventuresome, eminently hum-able rock songs about escaping the travails of modern life. What do we call it, then? Ah, shut up and just listen. After 2002�s Lost Souls and the peaks that were �There Goes the Fear� and �Pounding,� Some Cities features an even more consistent song cycle that drifts from uptempo anthems to slight, quiet breezes of songs. On the first single, �Black and White Town,� a can�t-stop-won�t-stop drumbeat helps turn lead singer Jimi Goodwin�s vocals into defiant recommendations against urban complacency. And, there�s a guitar solo � a good one at that. Instead of the distinctive vocals of a band like Keane, Doves songs treat lyrics like another layer of guitars, without reducing them to sound effects. �Walk With Fire� turns epic on accident, slowly gathering energy like adding logs to the bonfire pit. The downright pastoral �Someday Soon� makes the presence of such dirt devils of guitars on �Sky Starts Falling� all the more exciting. The only classification Some Cities deserves is �good,� a word that has no country of origin and thus no responsibilities for fading flames of yesteryear. |
| Originally published in Take ONE, as written by Hank Brockett |