ALBUMS OF THE WEEK
DANNY MCELHINNEY
Doves
The Universal Want (EMI) ★★★★★
Doves announced they would take a hiatus in 2010 to get off ‘the tour-albumtour treadmill’. In the decade that elapsed extracurricular projects included work with Guy Garvey of fellow Lancastrians, Elbow, a band whose musical outlook is close to their own. Doves though, have always had just that bit more of a groove as befits a band who grew out of short-lived dance outfit Sub Sub. The hooks of songs such as I Will Not Hide and Carousels are more inclined to grab than previously when they might have been submerged in layers. Jez Williams’ guitar is often more jagged, solos are thrown in with apparent abandon, especially on Prisoners. Jimi Goodwin’s vocal is also higher in the mix than on their previous four chart-topping albums. Where previously it had to be sought, this time it will find you. The Universal Want is a triumphant return on which Doves really have swooped and conquered.
Fenne Lily
Breach (Dead Oceans) ★★★★★
Bristolian singer-songwriter Fenne Lily offers grunge-informed folk, profanitystrewn orchestral pop and sings like everyone is already listening. Confident perhaps, because her 2018 debut On Hold was one of that year’s buzz albums. She sings in a whisper
‘we talked about getting married now
I hate your guts’ over soft strings on Birthday. The
23-year-old (right) tells a former suitor I Used To Hate My Body But Now I Just Hate You which owes as much to country music as the title implies. She likes wordplays too. The album title references her own breech birth. Alapathy is a quip on allopathy and details her self-medicating with marijuana. The album comes together best on the delicate Someone Else’s Trees and the slightly grungy Solipsism which she describes as being about ‘being comfortable with being uncomfortable’. For an appreciation, it may take several repeat visits unto this Breach.