keepers 4
keeper avg .400
After an instrumental intro, Doves' second album begins in earnest with "Words"*****, swimming with aggressively chipper harmonies and hammy but hummable guitar melodies. "There Goes The Fear"**** takes a while to build from minimalist disco to a frantic Arcade Fire vehicle, before ending with an "I'm A Man" (Chicago) Carnivale percussion outro. "M62 Song" (based on a King Crimson song) falls dangerously close to Radiohead-level melancholy but for Jez Williams' angelic pipes. Most of the second half of the album is a bit of a rut, populated by the float-y "N.Y.", the plodding, Coldplay-like "Satellites" and "The Sulfur Man" (the latter with a bit over-quota originality), and atmospheric non-songs "Friday's Dust" and title song. The bright spot in this stretch is the appropriately-named single "Pounding"****, blasting out with a rave-y tempo. The soaring "Caught By The River"**** ends the album with a plea for perseverance.
US Bonus Disk - 2 more keepers, the piano-driven Blur/brit-pop "Hit The Ground Running"**** and a swampy cover of "Willow Song"****, originally featured in a memorable scene of the 1973 film The Wicker Man.
Comments