Doves – Kingdom of Rust
They might not photograph that well, but the video’s certainly pretty…
[Video][Website]
[6.09]
Joseph McCombs: I haven’t heard from Doves since “Black and White Town” in ‘05. It would seem at some point in the interim they decided to become Calexico, only with a little more kick to their shuffle. Haunting, melodic, poetic, engaging: I really dig this.
[9]
John M. Cunningham: Like other Doves songs I’ve happened to hear, “Kingdom of Rust” is impressively arranged – a quick-paced shuffle with some Morricone-like cinematic flourishes and a twinkly riff that’s easy to sink your teeth into – though as a result I appreciate it more textually than as a well-formed song.
[6]
Martin Kavka: There’s a certain subtlety woven in to the typical Doves epic scale here; I imagine that it requires you to be in motion in order to really appreciate it. For example, if I were listening to this while on a long drive (perhaps to scatter someone’s ashes at a shore, as in the video), I’d no doubt think this was the Most Meaningful Song Ever. At a laptop, it’s not nearly so extraordinary. But perhaps this should be a point in the track’s favor; it calls you to live.
[7]
Doug Robertson: Right. I don’t “get” Doves. They seem to have a special place in a lot of people’s hearts but I just can’t understand why. They always plod where they should soar, collapse where they should connect and drag their knuckles like Neanderthal man where they should – well, you get the idea with that. I want my iPod to blast my ears with excitement and adventure and sounds that take me away from that, not music that hammers home the sheer pointlessness of existence. This is music for people who don’t dream, who don’t imagine, and who don’t care about anything other than the four walls that make up their little world. This is the sound of concrete; give me a wrecking ball.
[2]
Martin Skidmore: Second single in a week to remind me a little of “Ghost Riders In The Sky”, except here it’s as if it has been remade by Coldplay in their sleep. I guess it’s looking for a dreamlike swoony sound to go with the nonsensical (some might describe them as poetically surreal, but these bozos are no Marc Bolans) lyrics. I guess people who like Coldplay, Keane and so on will like this too, but I loathe the bland, safe, gutless style.
[2]
Ian Mathers: “Kingdom of Rust” kind of putters along, with a nice enough melody, but it sounds like the middle eight to one of their old songs stretched to five minutes. I don’t want Doves to be pleasant. I want them to be grandiose.
[5]
Alex Wisgard: A strange choice of lead-off single from a band who normally charge back into the public consciousness with all guns blazing – let’s not forget quite how astonishing (and fun) “There Goes the Fear” sounded on first listen. “Kingdom of Rust” is hardly a failure – it swells in all the right places, an expansive country shuffle, laced with sweeping Morricone strings. It’s just hard not to feel like they’re trying to catch up Elb*w in the epic stakes, and this is no “Grounds for Divorce”. Still, maybe it makes more sense in context of the album…
[6]
Colin Cooper: References to moors, power stations and dreary northern ‘city’ Preston betray this otherwise curiously cowboy indie; Doves are doing the Wild (North) West. It’s augmented by pretty glockenspiel figures, singer Jimi Goodwin’s gruff tones and soaring, almost filmic strings and…does any of this sound at all familiar? Don’t get me wrong, I feel sorry for Doves. Usurped once and for all by younger cousins Elbow, the remarkable (though Christ, a little overplayed now) comeback that band made now facilitates Doves’ return. Both bands specialise in what this single ostensibly does quite well; emotive, highly-textured indie-rock by men who could just as easily be gravediggers or construction workers or bears. The difference is, of course, that one’s always had a bit more delicacy about them, and are now reaping the rewards of an album they could only just afford to make. This single blazes the trail for a similar return from a band who must have been thinking about chucking the towel in too, but thanks to Mr. Garvey and co., can hold it off at least a little longer.
[7]
Edward Okulicz: This is how you do an epic. This song is fantastic and enormously so, and it is this because it’s not just long, it’s longing. It eschews the obvious quiet/loud-verse/chorus juxtaposition in favour of interesting dynamics – a little chug, a little country, just a touch of desolation. There are strings and there is jangle and these are intelligently placed. The chorus aches, it doesn’t whine. The arrangement and production are clear, not muddy and you can hear all the buzzes and hooks perfectly. Reminds me of the Blackeyed Susans, a band I adored in the 90s. It’s a relief to know I’m not so jaded that I can’t be moved by you know, a rock band.
[10]
Iain Forrester: Subtlety has never been Doves’ strong point. The big stuff though, a KINGDOM of rust, an OCEAN of trust, that they can conjure up. So massive washes of strings and distorted guitar, and a beat that just unstoppably ticks away time in the background all back up ‘myyyyy GOD!’ in a way that takes full advantage of Jimi Goodwin’s voice having no setting bar maximum deep world-weariness.
[8]
Dave Moore: Shambling “can your brother do the shaker and the tambourine on this one”-style two-step shuffles along for five minutes as what starts as a Nick Cave hoe-down becomes the Waterboys fronted by Chris Martin. And hey, I kind of like the Waterboys.
[5]
Good grief, only one person within 3 points of my mark. Where is Lex when we need him? (I may be making a false assumption here, of course.)
Um… immediately above your’n?
Yeah I probably should make an effort to listen to these so the average doesn’t get pushed artificially upwards, just can never seem to face the endless grey. 9s and 10s for this dreariness? Unbelievable.
I normally hate Doves with a fiery and abiding passion. When my sister contemplated buying (or actually bought, I can’t remember) “Lost Souls” I told her they were rubbish, had no tunes and blokey couldn’t sing and that “The Man Who Told Everything” was the worst song I had heard ever ever ever.
These are all largely still true, but “Kingdom of Rust” is FANTASTIC. Also, I can’t see how the lyrics are nonsensical, Martin! Pretty standard loss-stuff.
Martin: how do you think I felt when I scored Noisettes ONE POINT LOWER than Lex??? That’s a one point difference that feels like a seven point difference. (Speaking of point difference, I’ve been tracking the biggest point differences — a.k.a. “most controversial” — tracks here: La Roux is in the lead!)
There’s a link in the word “here” if you can’t see it.
“Dreary” hits it on the head, this–and the rest of the album–is just a chore to listen to. It’s meaningful-core at its absolute worst, and this dude has one of the worst vioces in all of music. Somewhere, Scott Stapp is pissed that he didn’t write this first.
“Blackbirds flew in and to the cooling towers
I’ll pack my bags
Thinking of one of those hours
With you, waiting for you
My God, it takes an ocean of trust
In the Kingdom of Rust”
Yes, I can see that there is something about loss in there, but it still sounds like nonsense to me.
Wow, there’s nothing like seeing the lyrics typed out to make them lose all of their impact! I think you are actually right.
Still think the song’s good, though!
Yeah, Dave Moore and I both gave it fives, and you and Doug Robertson gave it 2s, Martin. I liked their first album and “There Goes the Fear,” but unless a cursory listen to the new one indicates that “Kingdom of Rust” is the worst track on the album, I think I’m done with Doves. I feel vaguely insulted for Elbow though – they’ve ALWAYS been a much better band.
Also, Colin Cooper’s “men who could just as easily be gravediggers or construction workers or bears” marks the first (of many, one hopes) time the reborn Jukebox made me laugh out loud.
Thanks (and also: hi!), Ian.
Elbow are the better band yeah, I really like them; but remember when we bought Radiohead and then were offered Coldplay? I wonder what sort of “similar” crap this Elbow craze is going to produce in the next six months…
Elbow have been on the other side of the same comparison in the past when they were the less successful.
Ian: I think “Kingdom of Rust” is the best track so you probably are done.