Doves “Kingdom of Rust” Review

It is often difficult to gain a balanced perspective on an album after reading a single summary of the music. Bias can tilt the review, as can personal taste, history and just about everything else that is unique to the person writing it. So in an effort to offer an expanded perspective on the music here are four reactions, four impressions, Four Takes on Kingdom of Rust by Doves.

Kingdom of Rust, is English band Doves’ latest installment in their remarkably excellent catalog. If it wasn’t the follow up to the thoroughly awesome Some Cities I would probably cut it more slack, but when compared to their last record it gets the silver medal (or bronze if you want to add 2002′s The Last Broadcast in there). Still, it will probably be one of my top twenty albums of the year and is by no means lacking. Kingdom‘s best tracks “Jetstream,” “Birds Flew Backwards,” “Spellbound,” and “Lifelines,” are all really fantastic, but the band’s signature swelling crescendos never quite reach the irresistible quality of tracks like “Walk in Fire,” “Black and White Town,” or even “Snowden.” But this needn’t simply be a comparison to the band’s earlier work, Kingdom on its own is a really solid effort that can stand as such. It may be the little brother to its big stud siblings, but it’s a scrappy one at that. [Jon Behm]

(uncredited photo via Doves.net)

Kingdom of Rust immediately dives into classic rock territory with the band’s spiraling, Steve Miller Band-like electronics in the album’s lead track “Jetstream.” Fitting that from there, the album initially succeeds by tracing the history of bands who had all but vanished a couple decades ago. Aside from the rushed sounds of “The Outsiders,” the album’s best tracks, “Kingdom of Rust” and “Winter Hill,” fill out Kingdom of Rust‘s first half as the band wades through layered, calculated music that is slow to climax but thoroughly enjoyable. Despite it’s encouraging lead songs, Kingdom of Rust briefly falls into a pattern of moody songs that project dreary inconsistency. After the crushing “10:03,” the songs begin to slow and as the introduction to “Birds Flew Backwards” fades in all momentum the album had is lost. In the song Jimi Goodwin shifts vocal trends for the first time on the album, extending his moans as far as they can reach, all accompanied by a beautiful (though out of place) bed of strings in the process. Though pleasant, “Birds Flew Backwards” creates a jarring divide in Kingdom of Rust; though not comparatively poor, the following songs end up sounding less powerful than the first half of the album due to the divide. After tossing in a funky bass-line with “Compulsion” and the thuddish stomper “House of Mirrors” the album closes with “Lifelines.” The song has the most enjoyable melody on the second half of the album, but it begs question as to how the tracks would have sounded had they been ordered a bit differently. On the first few listens Kingdom of Rust hardly sounds like a fitting follow-up for a band that has twice been nominated for the esteemed Mercury Prize. But after listening to each song as a unique piece, the music begins to reflect the skill that is expected of the veteran band. And if nothing else, any band that can successfully replicate the elusive “Fly Like An Eagle”-swirl has my vote of confidence. [Chris DeLine]

Bands like Doves, and CDs like their latest offering Kingdom of Rust, are just about the hardest thing for me to review. When I have to write a review of a band that I love or hate, I can draw upon the instant emotions and hyperbolic jargon that comes so easily when strong feelings are involved with a CD or show review. With Kingdom of Rust, I found myself uncomfortably in the middle as I listened to the album over the last few days. The music, while sonically pleasing and well arranged, doesn’t really do much for me that makes me want to put in their disc over the other new CDs that I could be listening to. While listening to their sweeping rock and roll, I couldn’t help but find myself reaching for the “next” button, not because the songs were bad (I do like their songwriting), but because I found it wasn’t exciting or new sounding to me. I think it would be fair to say that Doves have been a consistently good band for many years, but have never managed to positions themselves, in my book, into the upper echelon that many people seem to insist they are. With Kingdom of Rust, Doves have created another disc that I am sure will be critically praised worldwide, but again leaves me wondering what it is that I am missing. [Josh Keller]

(uncredited photo via Doves.net)

Manchester’s Doves have been churning out soaring, atmospheric rock songs for over a decade now, and while they have certainly found a critical audience (with two Mercury Music Prize nominations), it’s somewhat criminal that they have thus far been unable reach a wider, more commercial audience, at least outside of the UK. And that likely won’t change with their new record, Kingdom Of Rust, which holds pretty true to both the sound and style of their first three records, and will more than likely please long time supporters of the band, but probably won’t garner them a lot of new fans, either. They have always written songs that make the listener wait for the payoff (and albums, for that matter-this one was four years in the making), and most audiences have demonstrated that they don’t have the patience for that sort of commitment. What they are missing out on are well-crafted songs that are propulsive and ambient, and the first half of Rust is chock full of moody, melodic tracks that fans of the band have come to love. The first half of the record is incredibly strong and sonically precise, featuring some of the best songs of the bands career within the first six tracks. And these songs set the bar so impossibly high that you can’t help but be disappointed when the second half fades considerably, with songs that are either so radically out of step with the band’s scope that they sound a bit awkward and forced (“Compulsion” and “House Of Mirrors”), or tracks that fail to get off the ground entirely (“Birds Flew Backwards” and “Spellbound”). “Lifelines” closes things out on an optimistic note, and saves the second half from total obscurity. But it’s the stellar first six songs that I will continue to turn to on Kingdom Of Rust, and those songs are good enough on their own to make this album work. [Erik Thompson]

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Also: Doves @ Varsity Theater