658 Doves - Lost Souls (2000)

 658 Doves - Lost Souls (2000)

Studio Album - Shoegaze/Space Rock



About the Act:

Doves are an alternative rock band from Manchester. 1998-2010, 2018-present. 5 albums, some reasonable success, and award nominations.

About the Album:

This was their first album.

My History with this Album:

None

Review:

I feel like I've been here before in this style space, in fact I get the feeling that this area of alt rock has been deemed to be particularly important, or quality, and often I feel quite ambivalent about it. It's the kind of washy guitar, shoegaze, dream pop, space rock, new psychedelia that to my limited understanding was lumped in with "britpop". There have been quite a few albums that I have reviewed that seem essentially like this.

For some reason though, I responded quite well to this. If I was a good reviewer, I would be able to put my finger on why, or at least cover up my lack of why with some clever phrases. I don't think it just arbitrary, because I listened about three times, in different moods, and didn't lose a general overall feeling of "I quite like this".

I think it starts because the opening track is proper space rock, it creates an expansive atmosphere and draws you in. Some of the tracks are quite dreamy and shoegazy, some are more rocky. It reminds me of different things at different times, although the album sound is coherent. Like a wine reviewer might talk about "I'm getting oak, and raspberry and the sound of lambs on a moonlit night" or some such pretentiousness, in this album I'm getting bits of Radiohead (especially the voice) and Oasis, and Suede and even Muse at times, but compared to most of those, just softer, less bitter, and more tender. I feel like there's a genuineness and likableness to the singer (Jimi). 

Or maybe, it's just that it's not actually all drowned in washy guitar. Maybe.

7.3/10 


Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/33nyNThvBKPzS4NGdnWACf

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLR-rYYGS6juAWa2ShPx5rK_TyobT4Xg7Y

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Souls_(Doves_album)



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