Doves' tight, airy sound sets it apart
Doves/Longwave
Avalon, Boston, Massachusetts
September 12, 2005
by Marc Hirsh

originally published in The Boston Globe, September 14, 2005

There was once a time when Coldplay seemed like nothing more than a Travis wannabe band and thus a Radiohead copy twice removed. Things are different now, of course – world domination will do that – and if a band like Manchester, U.K.’s Doves can’t explicitly claim Coldplay as an influence (the two are contemporaries, forming at more or less the same time and releasing their debut albums within months of each other), it’s hard to argue that they’re not dwelling in their shadow.

The spacious anthems that Doves played at Avalon on Monday didn’t do a whole lot to dispel the comparisons. Songs such as “Snowden” and the British B-side “Eleven Miles Out” made them sound like Coldplay Jr.; the latter song in particular was a “Clocks” soundalike, though drummer Andy Williams helped push the song towards a more chaotic destination.

What differentiated Doves from Chris Martin and company was their broodiness, while their booming drums and vaguely psychedelic tinge (aided by the cryptic, impressionistic films projected onto the screen behind them) recalled the atmospherics emphasized by New Zealand’s Straitjacket Fits. Bassist Jimi Goodwin’s voice split the difference between Martin and Fits singer Shayne Carter, adding a layer of Liam Gallagher-esque drawling and coating it with reverb so dense that his words didn’t end so much as die out in the air.

Jez Williams’s guitar was given the same treatment, filling the room primarily with echoey single notes as longtime touring keyboardist Martin Rebelski filled in the gaps with an effective but unoppressive touch. Despite a sound rooted in airiness, the band was tight and powerful enough to make up for some of the less engaging material such as “Caught By The River,” which featured guitar, drums and lights coordinated in a furious bashout. When Doves focused their attention on stronger songs like the upbeat and triumphant “Some Cities” and “Here It Comes” (which saw Goodwin taking over the drum throne so that Andy Williams could sing and play harmonica), it gave an indication of how the band might forge its own path.

Openers Longwave played a 45-minute set that sounded like a shaggier Killers playing variations on Cheap Trick’s “Speak Now Or Forever Hold Your Peace.” Despite a few vocal fans, the crowd’s applause was more polite than enthusiastic, and the band’s use of noise and feedback to accompany their songs ultimately signified nothing.