Some Cities [PA]

Performer: Doves
Producer: Ben Hillier; Doves; Ben Hillier
Distributor: EMI Music Distribution

Notes: Doves: Andy Williams, Jez Williams, Jimi Goodwin. Audio Mixers: Ben Hillier; Rich Costey. Recording information: 2Khz, London, England; Andy's House; Angel Studios; Fort Augustus Abbey; Moolah Rough, Rockport, Manchester, England; Panarific; Parr Street Studios, Liverpool; The Dairy, Brixton, England; The Old School House, Fort Augustus; Whitfield Street Studios, Soho. With their third outing, SOME CITIES, Doves created their most cohesive album to date. While the British trio's debut, LOST SOULS, conjured up a wonderfully melancholy mood, and its follow-up, THE LAST BROADCAST, expanded the band's sonic palette, SOME CITIES sees Doves fine-tuning their sound with the strengths of both previous releases. Atmospheric rock remains the group's calling card, as best exemplified by the shimmering "Almost Forgot Myself," the string-laden "The Storm," and the woozy "Shadows of Salford." Although the album is filled with mid-tempo tunes, "Black and White Town" picks up the pace with a Motown-like backbeat, "Walk in Fire" builds to a thrilling crescendo (much like THE LAST BROADCAST's "There Goes the Fear"), and "Sky Starts Falling" presents the trio in a buoyant, rocked-out mode. Crafting three excellent albums in a row is a tall order for any band, but with SOME CITIES, Doves have done exactly that.

Rolling Stone (No. 969, p.114) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[B]rightens up the widescreen gloom of their 2000 debut, LOST SOULS, dishing out hopeful, multitracked choruses and liquid guitars..." Spin (p.92) - "[E]ven tracks that start off small and lonesome build to OK COMPUTER arena levels." - Grade: B Entertainment Weekly (No. 809, p.73) - "[C]ondenses the spacey sprawl of previous works for a tighter album, yet still maintains the Doves' distinct ethereality....[A] wondrously exhilarating, shimmering pop masterpiece." - Grade: A- Uncut (p.94) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[R]ich and bold and quite beautiful....This wonderful, distinct album makes Doves automatically leaders of the pack." Mojo (Publisher) (p.101) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[With] the beautiful, flute-laced, stop-start lament of 'Someday Soon', the epically inclined 'Walk In Fire' and the Air-like ambience of 'The Storm'."

The members of the early-2000s Britpop sensations Doves started out playing Manchester-inspired dance music in the '90s under the name Sub Sub (and had a smash dance hit, "Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)") before reinventing themselves as shoegazer-influenced rockers with their 2000 debut album LOST SOULS, which was widely embraced in the U.K. The followup, 2002's THE LAST BROADCAST, and its ultra-hooky opening single and British smash "There Goes the Fear," saw Doves breaking through to the rest of the world.

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