Mancunian indie-rock trio Doves have returned after an eleven year hiatus from music. Doves released their brand new album, entitled The Universal Want, on Friday September 11th.
A ten-track album, The Universal Want contains songs like Broken Eyes, Carousels and Cathedral Of The Mind. The Universal Want marks over a decade since Kingdom of Rust, which Doves premiered way back in 2009.
Packed full of soaring instrumentation, riffy guitars, and anthemic choruses, The Universal Want proves that Doves’ aptitude for making catchy sad music is still very much there, despite an eleven-year break.
In a recent interview with NME, Doves drummer Andy Williams talked about the album’s token song, Broken Eyes, and how they managed to finally finish the track. Williams stated that “We’ve had it for many years, but never managed to finish that song.” The music video for Broken Eyes can be watched in full here.
Williams revealed that it only took a simple reworking to finish Broken Eyes after pulling it out of the archives. Williams relayed that “at the start of this new album writing process in 2017, we were going through the hard drives and came across this great song again. We approached it in a much more simple way. With the clarity of time, it was a lot easier to finish it this time.”
Jez Williams, Doves guitarist and brother of Andy Williams, added “We had to change the words to this one. There are a couple of songs on the record that after a decade and a bit of hindsight, we knew where we went wrong. ‘Broken Eyes’ was originally called ‘Cocaine Eyes’. We realised that we couldn’t have a band like us talking about cocaine eyes, because it just looks silly.”
Jez Williams also spoke on Doves’ songwriting process, explaining the band’s fluid, unstructured approach to making music. Williams said that “When we get together, we don’t have a mandate – that would be the beginning of the end,” he said. “We don’t even talk about it. We’re there in the moment and going with what sounds new. The song will dictate where we’re at.”
Whilst The Universal Want contains yearning, sometimes depressive themes in their lyrics, the band maintains that the album can’t be all doom and gloom. Andy Williams stated that “It can’t just be us moaning on. There’s got to be light. It doesn’t wash well for me with middle-aged bands coming out with adolescent lyrics. It’s good to register that life is a struggle, but to offer some kind of help.”
View this post on Instagram
We’ve noticed that some of you are experiencing delivery issues with your order for the album. We asked about it and have received this explanation: “Unfortunately there have been issues with the record label’s warehouse and a number of pre-orders from the official website are late going out. We are really sorry this has happened. Please check your email if your album hasn’t arrived yet, orders are shipping and will be with you soon’ Thank you for your continued support! A post shared by Doves (@dovesofficial) on
Doves took to Instagram to share the arrival of The Universal Want. Featuring a snap of the album and a snippet of Broken Eyes playing in the background, the post was received wonderfully from fans, gathering over 4,000 likes and views.
The full tracklist for The Universal Want can be found below:
1. Carousel
2. I Will Not Hide
3. Broken Eyes
4. For Tomorrow
5. Cathedrals Of The Mind
6. Prisoners
7. Cycle Of Hurt
8. Mother Silverlake
9. Universal Want
10. Forest House
