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Hailing from Manchester, England—home of The Smiths, Oasis, and New Order plus many, many other artists—Doves gained acclaim in the latter half of the ‘90s after switching from creating electronic to rock oriented music. The first two albums, Lost Souls and The Last Broadcast, each earned prestigious Mercury Music Prize nominations and the third release, Some Cities, was another high caliber work.
Four years later, the trio are touring in support of their newest album Kingdom of Rust, a diverse record with some quieter songs such as “Compulsion” and new influences, like the Spaghetti Western elements in the title track. At this show, the group’s three core members, Jimi Goodwin on bass and brothers Jez and Andy Williams on guitar and drums respectively mostly kept in a triangle while the unofficial fourth member, Martin Rebelski, remained aside at his keyboards.
Showcasing their dynamic songs against a video projection background, Doves tirelessly tore through songs during a 90-minute set with Goodwin barely pausing to address the audience until later on. Opening with “Jetstream”, a song from their new album with subdued vocals and warped electronic effects, built up the crowd’s expectations. Doves followed with “Snowden”, letting Goodwin’s vibrant vocals fill the venue as he inquired, “why should we care?” and the frothing guitar and keyboards reached climax.
Continuing to alternate between a sparser sound and full stadium rock, Doves sandwiched the quieter songs (“Almost Forgot Myself” and “10:03”) between the powerful works (“Pounding” and “Words”). And they pushed the audience into the break on a high; after stomping along to the Motown-tinged “Black and White Town”, pulses quickened on the tense almost frantic “The Outsiders” until finally the guitar-propelled “Caught by the River” bathed everyone in its warmth.
Though this venue has never been acoustically friendly to any artist I’ve seen here, the audience remained receptive despite the muddled sound. So Doves returned for an encore to a crowd applauding for older favorites. Goodwin took a moment to thank New York, as well as their “favorite couple ever” Dennis and Lois, then crooned “The Cedar Room” a slow, steady missive before trading places allowing Andy to sing “Here it Comes”. Doves closed out the night with “There Goes the Fear” as Goodwin and Andy banged away in a Stomp-like percussion frenzy at the end. The crowd, similarly enthused, applauded ardently, letting Doves know they are always welcome on this side of the Atlantic.
