joesrecords

Reviews:

Single-handedly reviving interest in the moribund U.K. music scene-poverty-strickenafter decades of constant new untold riches-this trio has made quite an involvingrecord. Somehow they sacrificed a fair bit of their strength, their ghostly-atmosphericbrooding, for something a lot warmer, a little more playful, but just as potent.Think of Lost Souls as the band's Fall/Winter, and The Last Broadcastas their early Spring, the birds returning and chirping, the mud of the rains,and the color slowly returning. It's sort of like the two-year run Echo &the Bunnymen had on singles such as "Back of Love," "Never Stop,"and "The Killing Moon."

The LP hits stride right away, with the ambitious soundtrack scrap, "Intro,"into the LP's signature track, "Words"-their best song todate this side of "Catch the Sun." Like that Lost Souls single,it unashamedly harks back to the finally well-missed U.K. dreampop scene of adecade ago. But whereas "Catch the Sun" sounded a lot like a Swervedrivercover, "Words" is more like a lost Ride outtake from Going BlankAgain, complete with each syllable stretched out in languid harmony the waythat Andy Bell and Mark Gardner used to sing together-as well as the flashing,thumping, reverberating psych-pop that band, and Slowdive and Lush, once made.

Still not a classic melody band (outside of "Words" and the beautifulcloser, another 6/8-er, "Caught by the River"), they've once againgotten by on catchy repetition, extrusive riffs, perfect self-production, andenough well-placed hooks to keep you coming back. With a minimum of raw material,but heightened arrangement and sonic skills, Doves make wonderful LPs, so there'sno sense the gravy train will end. Now if they ever find a way to be as compellingon-stage as they are when left alone to make opulent LPs in a studio, with alltheir supernatural aural splendors intact, they'll be the band of the decadeyet.