Album Review: Doves - Kingdom of Rust (4/5)

Kingdom of Rust is Manchester, England-based Doves' fourth album. I'm new to the band, having not listened to them before other than their occasional hit, so I can't put this in context with their previous work, but I can say that I rather liked this album, even more so with repeated listens.

In particular, the first third of the album excels. Moody "Jetstream" has electronic flourishes to round it out, but not so much that it qualifies as new wave revival, as the guitar remains squarely prominent. The song builds slowly in the beginning, piping in an insistent electronic pulse during the second verse. "Kingdom of Rust" is an epic track with strings flourishes that sound like they come from a '60s cowboy film. It's another great song, managing to be both brooding and uplifting. The cool keyboard effect that kicks off "The Outsiders" (it's hard to describe, closest I can come is say its like Missy Elliott's "Lose Control"), as well as the lyrics ("...in the universe, just the two of us") give the song some space age pretentions reminiscent of Muse but not as over the top. "Winter Hill" is more down-to-Earth, a love song with pastoral imagery beginning with layered guitars that return for the choruses.

The middle section plays a bit mellower, going for haunting sounds. "10:03" slows down the tempo with a haunting sound achieved with heavily echoed vocals, before throttling forward with drums and loud guitar at the very end. "The Greatest Denier" also goes for an echo-ey epic sound, although it also has a playful staccato bassline at the end of the chorus. "Birds Flew Backward" is quite lovely and lush--no drums this time, just strings and guitar with vocals about the approaching summer. More upbeat "Spellbound" has a great guitar melody.

"Compulsion's" strutting bass melody and synth effects give it a '70s feel, then it's back to the sounds of the wild west on "House of Mirrors," which features both the Western-style reverbed guitar and your more typical rock guitar. "Lifelines" finishes the album with a warm guitar and piano melody. It's not a highlight, but it's not bad. In general this a pretty great album, with quite a bit of variety ranging from the big-sounding epics to the more intimite middle section.

Best: Kingdom of Rust, Jetstream, The Outsiders, Spellbound, Birds Flew Backward, Compulsion, Winter Hill