i think i better follow you around

Doves have re-emerged after 11 years to release their album “The Universal Want”. In anticipation of the album release they shared a string of videos.

The feel of the album is still that of what we’ve come to know, or even expect, from Doves. Yes, some of the songs have a certain feel of a mix from Lost Souls or even The Last Broadcast and in others you can feel a touch of Kingdom Of Rust, but be sure that this is Doves moving forward. This is Doves in 2020. If you’ve been a fan from the first time you heard the chords of Firesuite or you’re just coming aboard it makes no difference because the journey of the album is still the same.

Track listing for the album:

1. Carousels
2. I Will Not Hide
3. Broken Eyes
4. For Tomorrow
5. Cathedrals Of The Mind
6. Prisoners
7. Cycle Of Hurt
8. Mother Silver Lake
9. Universal Want
10. Forest House

Here’s the animated video for “Carousels” by Yoni Weisberg.

Thru a statement Andy Williams said: “It’s a reminiscence of the times that we’d go to places like North Wales on holiday as kids. Places where you had your first experience of sound systems and music being played really loud.”

Their last album was 2009 “Kingdom of Rust” before their hiatus that saw Jimi Goodwin release a solo album and bandmates Jez and Andy Williams release an album under Black Rivers.

Their 2nd video was for the gorgeous sounding ‘Prisoners’.

“‘Prisoners’ is about that yearning that Doves have always had,” said Goodwin. “Just over the horizon, there’s always something better. Sometimes we get trapped by our own behaviour. You can be a prisoner of your own thoughts. They can take you to some pretty dark and unexpected places if you let them. It’s a song about checking yourself. It’s not to do with lockdown or the pandemic, it’s just the day to day wellbeing. A lot of Doves lyrics are shot through with that notion of having a word with yourself.”

The 3rd video released in anticipation for the album was for ‘Cathedrals of the Mind’.

“It was important, as it has been and will be for Doves. We’re always looking under rocks to see what’s there,” Jez Williams said. “Can we walk through that door? Does this sound reflect what’s now and who we are? How will it make other people feel, to be made to care?” As for the song’s spoken word middle section — a found recording of a speech by a member of the Black Panthers — Williams said, “We just stumbled upon this beautiful speech that really moved us. The determination and heartfelt cry for justice, especially echoing through the times we’re living through, it resonated.” He continued, “His lyrics connect to our lyrics in the song in a kinda ‘the theory of everything’ way, so we felt it fitted perfectly. A speech can have not just one meaning, but two, three or four meanings. That is, if you listen real close. Much like a song.”

With the actual release of the album came the release of the 4th video for the song ‘Broken Eyes’.

“These songs are a timestamp of where our heads are at at the moment. I think it’s still got that yearning that all Doves songs have got. I was trying to tap into a balearic, summer yearning. I also thought there was a lot of self-help in these lyrics, especially on songs like ‘Cycle Of Hurt’ and ‘Prisoners’. There’s a lot more tapping into mental health issues.” Jez Williams added: “It feels like a bit of healthy therapy. We’ve not had the pleasure of playing it live where people sing it back to you, but I imagine that will be a pretty cool moment – if it ever fucking happens!”

Matt Berninger will release his debut album on October 2nd vía Book Records, a new label formed by Berninger and the producer of the album Booker T. Jones under Concord Records.

The first video single released for the album was the self titled track. Berninger had this to say about it: “For a long time, I had been writing songs for movies and musicals and other projects where I needed to get inside someone else’s head and convey another person’s feelings. I liked doing that, but I was ready to dig back into my own garbage and this was the first thing that came out.”

The video was directed by Tom Berninger, Matt’s brother and director of the great documentary about the National “Mistaken For Strangers”, and Chris Sgroi.

The 2nd video that was released was for ‘Distant Axis’, the video was co-directed by Matt Berninger alongside his brother Tom and Chris Sgroi.

About ‘Distant Axis’ Berninger said this: “I met Walter Martin, from the Walkmen, 15 years ago when the National opened for the Walkmen on a tour of shitty clubs in the American Southeast. On that tour, I learned a lot about how to be in a band without ruining your life. I also learned a lot about Florida, Tennessee and Georgia. Walt and I have stayed friends and about three years ago we started passing ideas back and forth. ‘Distant Axis’ started from a sketch Walt sent me named ‘Savannah.’ I think it’s about falling out of touch with someone or something you once thought would be there forever.”

The 3rd and most recent video released is for the song ‘One More Second’. The video was directed by Chris Sgroi and it finds Matt Berninger dancing all by himself. About the song he said this: “I wrote ‘One More Second’ with Matt Sheehy (Lost Lander, EL VY) with the intention for it to be a kind of answer to Dolly Parton’s ‘I Will Always Love You’, or sort of the other side of that conversation. I just wanted to write one of those classic, simple, desperate love songs that sound great in your car.”

The tracklist for the album:

1. My Eyes Are T-Shirts
2. Distant Axis
3. One More Second
4. Loved So Little
5. Silver Springs
6. Oh Dearie
7. Take Me Out of Town
8. Collar Of Your Shirt
9. All For Nothing
10. Serpentine Prison

About the recording and release of his debut album Berninger shared with NME on an interview from December of 2019 that the record is “not the greatest solo album in the world, but it’s in the top five” before elaborating on its sound. “I wasn’t trying to do anything with a genre in mind,” he revealed. “With the covers, which you might never hear, I was singing some country songs, some soul songs and different things. I didn’t think about the style of the songs or even trying to avoid sounding like The National or [side-project] El Vy. There’s cross-pollination, but I wasn’t trying to go after anything. I just wanted to find some good songs. I just wanted to see if I could do something by myself, so I brought in 20 of the most brilliant musicians and some of the coolest people I know.”

Keaton Henson released a video for the song “Prayer” off his new album Monument which will be released on October 23rd vía Play It Again Sam (PIAS).

The video was directed by Geej Ower.

Keaton Henson said about the recording of this album: “I suppose it is, at its heart, much like my first record; a collection of things I wanted to say, just so they’re out of my system, and not necessarily for anyone else to hear. I made it at home, mostly alone, to the sound of birds and rainstorms, at strange hours of day and night. But, once the bones were recorded, I was somewhat unexpectedly joined by an amazing group of people, who came to musically lift me on their shoulders, and take these unsaid feelings to another plain in terms of sound.”

“‘Prayer’ is a meditation on the act of preparing to lose someone, in whatever form that takes,” Henson explained. “It’s about the feeling of helplessness, and the realisation that there are no words you can say to someone before they leave that will make it less painful when they do, as much as we feel like there must be. The orchestral section is a more personal statement; I didn’t know what to say to my dad before he left and I don’t really know what to say now, so it is, for once in the record, just simply goodbye.”

Another video released was for the song Ontario.

About Ontario Keaton shared: “I have found great solace in the icy winds of Canada. Where, upon opening the door in the morning, the instant freezing of your skin takes any lingering sleeplessness and unreason from you, making you move forward, no matter what else is going on. It is an ode to that landscape, and a portrait of a place I find beautiful, albeit strange.”

The 1st song and video released in anticipation for this album was ‘Career Day’.

About this song and video Henson said: “The video is a collection of often abstracted shots from deeply personal home videos. I just liked the idea of hearing an ageing weary man, singing about his failings over distorted shots of his childhood, and how it colours those captured gleeful moments with the sadness of the passage of time.”

The 4th and most recent video release is for ‘Husk’. About it Henson shared: “Husk is about waking up and realising that you’ve aged. That time, the traitor, has taken from you your best years, the ones where your bones didn’t ache and you could make it through the day without questioning existence.”

The tracklist for Monument, which contains collaborations from Phillip Selway on drums and percussion, Leo Abrahams on guitar and Charlotte Harding on saxophone, is:

1. Ambulance
2. Self Portrait
3. Ontario
4. Career Day
5. Prayer
6. While I Can
7. Bed
8. The Grand Old Reason
9. Husk
10. Thesis
11. Bygones