The Independent

Mayrhofen Review #2 & Best Of Album Sales

Another short review of Doves set at the Snowbombing festival, this time from the Independent.

Crowd size had no bearing on the quality of the acts. Doves’ set, though sparsely attended –perhaps the band’s thoughtful and melancholic indie did not appeal to the ravers’ party vibe –was a highlight. With a “best of” album on the shelves, the trio provided a set spanning their 20-year career, including “Kingdom of Rust”, “There Goes The Fear” and the Motown pounding of “Black and White Town”. Doves are used to playing in the UK to crowds 10 times the size of this one, so perhaps Jimi Goodwin could have been forgiven for thinking they were performing for Austrians who had no idea who they were. “I can sing that in German”, he said, unaware that the majority of Snowbombers are British.

Don’t forget, you can catch Doves live on Lauren Laverne’s 6 Music show later this morning. Doves will be playing a couple tracks acoustic, then will do an interview. Expect to hear Doves around 11am-12 noon.

Finally, some sales stats for the Best Of album..

The Best Of Doves: The Places Between is this week’s highest new entry debuts at number 12 selling 9,714 copies.

Gaga’s album sold a total of 25,211 copies to stay at number one, the lowest sale for a number one artist album since The Last Broadcast by Doves topped the list selling only 22,437 copies eight years ago next month

Quite revealing figures, I’m sure you will agree. Apparently they are blaming the weather for the poor sales… I should point out that those sales figures for the Last Broadcast, was for its second week at number one. It sold over 52,000 copies first week.

Electric Proms Independent Review

Better late than never eh? The Independent posted up thier review of the Elecetric Proms show late last week:

Doves released their fourth album, Kingdom of Rust, earlier this year, and it has been widely hailed their best yet. Its bittersweet lyrics and sweeping melodies, delivered in epic rock songs, are not far from their first album, Lost Souls, that won them a loyal fan base in 2000. That’s not to say their music hasn’t developed –it just hasn’t flirted with fads.

Until now it seems. For this performance, Doves were joined by the London Bulgarian Choir, whose eerily beautiful harmonies lifted Doves’ soaring music
to new heights, right into the Roundhouse’s exposed rafters.

Doves opened with two serviceable tracks, but things took off when the LBC joined them on “Firesuite”, creating a dense, dissonant soundscape that added cinematic heft. When Doves frontman Jimi Goodwin announced “they’re giving me tingles”, he spoke for us all.

To read the full review, click here.

Independent Article

The Independent have interviewed the band. Its a really good article:

“Are we going to do an Elbow?” guitarist Jez Williams says. “We’re all immensely proud. The response has been amazing, but I am not going to say we’re going to win the Mercury. It’s a bit of a weird thing to contemplate whether we’re going to do as well as Elbow.”

Front-man Jimi Goodwin adds: “They’re our mates and we’re so proud of them. There are similarities –they’ve worked doggedly and been dropped, they’ve had their share of woes, but they never contemplated splitting; they’re like brothers who obviously still enjoy making music together. It’s funny. They must have had years of being compared to us.”

To read the full article, click here.

The Independent Gives Album Top Marks

Music critic, Andy Gill, has given Doves’ Kingdom Of Rust album a five star rating in his review within today’s edition of The Independent newspaper.

The Independent

…it’s all carefully worked out, plotted and planned, but without once adopting the condescending assumptions common to the stadium acts whose position Doves will surely challenge. Album of the year? Quite possibly.

To read the full review, click here.