The brand new album ‘The Universal Want’ is out now. 🥳 Album streaming/downloads & physical copies can be bought from here. Enjoy, join in the discussion at the forum on Facebook.

The band have also debuted the video for the latest single ‘Broken Eyes’. You can watch that here.

Just another in a long line of fine reviews for the album. This one by Music Notion is especially well written.

– Music Notion

What is amazing about doves is how even decades later than their first music, they still possess genius level emotional intelligence in their music, making both soundscapes and lyrics resonate personally and collectively. Although this album will clearly have such an uplifting impact with long standing fans, it hopefully will transcend to those new to the band. An album brilliant either via its individual songs or in its entirety, ‘The Universal Want’ is a triumph.  10/10

Read the full thing here.

– The Independent

The Latin dance rhythms on “Mother Silverlake” are an intriguing glimpse at what might have been had they continued as their early band incarnation, Sub Sub (their studio burnt down in 1996 and they started from scratch as an indie-rock group). Single “Carousels”, a tribute to the late Afrobeat pioneer Tony Allen, samples the drummer’s rhythms amid themes of childhood memories. After 30-odd years, you could forgive a band for taking the easier path into complacency. But Doves have taken a different –better –road.  ROC   4 stars Read the full review here.

– The Guardian

The songs are tightly written, setting the troubled lyrics to bright melodies (Cycle of Hurt, which overplays the fiftysomething sturm-und-drang at the expense of a tune, is the album’s only low point); the dance influences subtle, seamlessly integrated and occasionally surprising. The mournful, ballad-paced title track effectively stops midway through, before reappearing retooled with the kind of beat you’d find on an old Chicago house tune: eventually everything else dies away, leaving just the rhythm track and an acidic synth. 4 stars Full review here.

Finally, Spin spoke to Jimi, a brief interview about the reunion and the band’s use of social media and social justice issues. Read that here.

The Grammy’s official website have posted an interview with Jez..

Have you had any close encounters with aliens?

Not personally. I’ve always been obsessed with them. I was brought up on  E.T.  and  Close Encounters of the Third Kind. And I loved the late-’70s fascination with UFOs. It’s almost like Maria’s photos look like it’s either about to arrive or it’s just left. It’s very eerie, but no, I haven’t personally seen them. Not yet, but still open!

Do you foresee more music from Doves in the future?

I don’t see why not. There’s no reason for us not to do another album. At the moment, we’re just desperate to get out there and gig. We understand why we can’t, but it’s at the forefront of our minds.

Read the full interview here.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable read as Ed Nash spoke to entire band. They cover various topics from the very start, meeting at the Hacienda right up to the present day. Here’s a wee hilarious snippet, discussing the very first Doves “show” in the US..

Doves’ first US tour in 2001

Jimi:  Most of that tour was on the proper American gig circuit, but our first gig night in America was a bit dodgy. We were flown into the middle of nowhere in Florida, because Coldplay had pulled out of this gig.

Jez:  When we got there, we knew why they pulled out! Apparently, they had the flu.

Andy:  It was a music convention and weren’t too happy that our first gig was a music biz thing. We were told ‘With all the radio people there, if you play this there’s a good likelihood you could sell up to a million records.’ We were told a lot of bullshit basically. There was hardly anyone there and you could see people in the kitchen making burgers while we were onstage.

Jimi:  We had to get changed in the kitchen, because that was our dressing room.

Jez:  It was like in the film  Casino, where people are in the back getting their tuxedos on and I still look back at that with a kind of fondness. We had this guy saying, ‘This is the difference between selling one record and a million if you play tonight!’- at the equivalent of Burger King.

Andy:  The rest of the tour was amazing though.

Give the rest of the interview a read here.

Join Doves on Twitter next Wednesday, Sept 16th at 10PM BST as they with Tim Burgess host a listening party for The Universal Want.

This will be Doves third listening party, having previously hosted parties for both Lost Souls & The Last Broadcast.

Stereogum on The Universal Want: Across the album, Doves are both mellower and vibier than we’d semi-recently heard them. Their new songs are reflective and patient, with all kinds of otherworldly sounds flickering through the backdrop. If there’s a distinction relative to their other four albums, it often feels as if  The Universal Want  focuses more on groove even as none of the songs reclaim the trio’s dance music roots. Tracks like “I Will Not Hide” or the liquified funk of “Mother Silver Lake” take material that could’ve followed old Doves formulae and tweak it into breezy lopes built on muscular rhythms.

There are moments —  like the surging rocker “Prisoners” — that could’ve plausibly existed on any of Doves’ previous albums, and there are several others that seem ever so slightly recognizable while suggesting new territory. The album begins with a suite of songs — “Carousels,” “I Will Not Hide,” and “Broken Eyes” — that almost work like small mutations of older Doves compositions. It then settles into a center section of more midtempo, ballad-leaning material, before concluding with a stretch that’s starts with the twin desperation/resolve interaction of “Prisoners” and “Cycle Of Hurt” before giving way to the autumnal series of “Mother Silver Lake,” the Big Statement climax of the title track, and the quieter epilogue of “Forest House.” The latter rather directly calls back to “A House,” which filled the same role on  Lost Souls  20 years ago, at the beginning of it all.

A great write-up from Stereogum, click here to read the full piece.

Clash Music says: Dreamy and atmospheric, wavy guitar lines are produced, forming a structure in and around the melody before the organic flow and chorus of ‘Broken Eyes’ take centre stage. So far, every tune has delivered and contributed to a rapturous listen.

Elsewhere, the emotive ‘Prisoners’ tackles the subject of mental health. An inspired guitar-driven moment, it builds with drama, “When there’s blood on the stage/Could you face your fears?/It all ends here/The minutes the hours,/Days and years.” Then ‘Cycle of Hurt’ lightens the mood with lucidity and soft-spoken dogmatism, it provides determination and a way out.

Click here to read their full review.

Northern Transmissions writes: It’s all capped off by another scorching solo by Jez, of which you’ll find several scattered throughout ‘The Universal Want’. The notion of progression, be it a personal drive for more or something that could be construed as blind consumerism is explored on the LP’s title track; starting off stripped back, just a piano and vocals before evolving into something flecked with Balearic tones, Goodwin can be heard pondering “the universal want is everywhere/is everyone”. ‘I Will Not Hide’ provides a defiant edge to the record with Goodwin’s clenched fist delivery of “if this is a test to see who blinks before the other/I will not yield/I will not hide/I will not hide anymore” while textured noises swirl and contort.

To read the full thing, click here.

xs noize: I Will Not Hide  starts with a Mickey Mouse (!) sounding vocal and a fluid and decisive tone. Then it delves into a magical sounding ode with the refrain “I will not yield, I will not hide.” An 80s synth sound and likeable beat underpins this. A female backing vocal and swirling, sonic guitar and drums back it all up seamlessly.

For  Mother Silverlake  Jimi shares vocals with Jez on this funky, intoxicating dive. The thumping drum grooves combine well with elements of psychedelia and jazz. The title track,  The Universal Want,  starts as a gentle, but emotional piano ballad and then ups the tempo halfway through with shades of Primal Scream’s ‘Movin’ On Up’ building up to an unexpected crescendo then fading to a rave-laden/Madchester style ending, (bringing to mind a touch of their Sub Sub days.) Click here to read the full review.

Riff Magazine: First single “Carousels” sets the stage as a retreat into childhood memories over a skittering Tony Allen drum sample that builds to dizzy psychedelic crescendo. “I Will Not Hide” is a bitter observation and confrontation with a politician that reveals itself as a statement of pride and defiance over sensational staccato drumming from Andy Williams and the first of many stunning guitar solos by Jez Wiliams that make one wonder if he spent the last 11 years playing guitar without pause. “Broken Eyes” and “For Tomorrow” are a one-two punch of classic Doves that beautifully set the stage for the stunning departure that comes next. Read the full review here.

The NME gives The Universal Want 9/10..

It’s a rare thing to find a record that flows from start to finish after such a lengthy break. Just ask The Stone Roses –even they struggled to rustle up two half-baked songs during their tumultuous third coming in 2016.

Title track ‘The Universal Want’ comes on like a haunting piano ballad, before bursting into a stomping house groove, harking back to producer A Guy Called Gerald’s 1988 Hacienda classic ‘Voodoo Ray’. While there’s nothing on here quite as fist pumping as Doves classics ‘Pounding’ or ‘There Goes The Fear’, the excellent ‘Prisoners’ and ‘Cycle Of Hurt’ come pretty close.

It may have taken over a decade for Doves to pour their souls into ‘The Universal Want’ but if it turns out to be their final transmission, it will be a worthy closing chapter to their epic legacy.

To read the full NME review, click here.