Doves ‘Lost Souls’ Album review by Rob Johnson
Doves’ first album Lost Souls arrived in April 2000 at a time when the UK charts were dominated by Coldplay, Eminem and Robbie Williams. Over the course of 25 years, the Manchester legends have seen trends come and go, Oasis split up and reform and the indie sleaze era rise and fall and then fall some more. While many of their peers from the early ‘00s have fallen by the wayside, Doves continue to release acclaimed albums whilst playing to sell out crowds.
The reason is simple. Doves’ music is timeless. It incorporates shoegaze, Madchester and soul music, plus many other disparate and wide-reaching influences, with the ghost of their dance music origins (Doves started life as a dance act named Sub Sub) always lingering in the background. In short, they have been one of the UK’s finest bands for the last quarter century, and so, there has never been a better time for a retrospective. So, here we are…
Released on 14th November, 2025, So, Here We Are: Best of Doves is a hand-picked collection of ‘meticulously fabricated songs of melancholic euphoria’ spanning 25 years and six albums. ‘Black and White Town’ kicks things off and probably represents the band at the absolute peak of their powers. The single peaked at number 6 on the UK Singles Chart, and the album itself hit number 1. Andy Williams’ pulsating drums keep the song moving, but it is Jimi Goodwin’s unmistakable and inimitable vocal flair that pushes ‘Black and White Town into the realm of the divine.
I saw Doves support Oasis in 2005 and they took to the stage to ‘Pounding’ – their calling card at the time – it brought the roof down. And now, 20 years later, the song sounds as insistent as ever. Nobody can write a soaring, uplifting chorus quite like Doves, and ‘Pounding’ is one of their best. ‘Catch the Sun’, one of the band’s early singles, is still as melodic and life affirming as ever, ‘Cold Dreaming’ from their recent sixth album, Constellations for the Lonely, proves that the band remain both cinematic and vital, and ‘Kingdom of Rust’, the title track from the band’s fourth record, showcases a different, more downbeat, side to Goodwin and his band. In light of his own recent struggles (he currently no longer tours live), the track feels more prescient than ever.
This record is not just a trip down memory lane, however. ‘Spirit of Your Friend’, a previously unreleased, newly mastered track originally recorded in 2006 for the Kingdom of Rust sessions provides fans with a fascinating insight into the vaults. It’s sensational. Doves’ underrated fifth album, The Universal Want, is represented by ‘Carousels’ and ‘Prisoners’, two songs that have rightly become live staples, before ‘The Man Who Told Everything’ and ‘The Cedar Room’ close things out.
The former features possibly their most maddeningly catchy earworm, while the latter, all 7 minutes of it, is as close as indie guitar music gets to a religious experience. If you’ve never experienced this song live, the band have got plenty of live dates booked in for 2025 and 2026 – now is your chance. It’s a fitting end to an incredible selection of songs. If the more recent tracks are anything to go by, however, this is far from a swansong. Doves are just getting started.
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