After a four-year break, Doves are back with news of a new record, their first since The Universal Want in 2020. There's a heft to some of the tracks here which places this music squarely next to that produced by the band decades ago. And there are a few surprises too.
After the sublime start of "Renegades", one of the best singles from this band in ages, we ease into "Cold Dreaming", one of the songs where singing duties are handled not by Jimi Goodwin but by Andy and Jez Williams. The music is familiar, but the reedy vocals are jarring at first, but after a few plays, I found myself liking this one quite a bit too. Elsewhere, "Strange Weather" earns attention with a simple, circular keyboard pattern which is built up until the track reaches an emotional crescendo, while the spry "A Drop in the Ocean" chugs forward on a neat little New Order-y kind of riff, while the keyboards and backing vocals push Jimi's vocals, the centerpiece of the song, on and on.
Constellations for the Lonely works best on the down-tempo, more modest selections ("Orlando", "Southern Bell") and on the big, more anthemic numbers like "Renegades", the lead single. Doves still have a knack for capturing drama, and producing music that is moving and still relatively simple and uncluttered. There's nuance in the compositions which populate the second half of this record, but for many of us, we want to hear more like "Renegades" and there's still quite a bit of that here in from this trio in 2025.
Constellations for the Lonely from Doves is out on February 28, 2025.
More details on Doves via DovesOfficial.com.
[Photo: Brian David Stevens]