The best things come to those who wait. Just as Elbow - those other merchants of expansive Northern melancholy - took almost two decades to crash the mainstream, it seems that the planets are finally aligning for Doves, four albums and 11 years into their career.
It's four years since their last offering, 2005's number one album 'Some Cities', but it has been time well spent. 'Kingdom Of Rust', due for release on April 6 on Virgin/ Heavenly, is their most expansive and filmic release to date, with Jimi Goodwin's lyrics powerfully evoking the wide open spaces of the band's native Lancashire. It's no surprise that the album was recorded in a remote converted farmhouse.
But aside from expected Big Music (see the epic, country-tinged title track and lead single) there are also shades of Doves' early dance music roots in the form of 'Compulsion', with its frantic warped-disco bassline, and '10.03', arranged by Tom Rowlands of The Chemical Brothers. Indeed, Rowlands is not the only legend to have a hand in the album: two of the tracks were produced by John Leckie, of 'The Stone Roses' and 'The Bends' fame.
"A jaw-dropping, audacious return to the fray" − NME magazine
