Doves - "Constellations For The Lonely" : New release

Perhaps because they've only managed five albums over a quarter of a century, a new Doves release always seems like an event. That they're sensitive types, too, reinforces this, with a lengthy break between 2009's Kingdom Of Rust and 2020's The Universal Want, and the subsequent tour cancelled for the sake of Jimi Goodwin's mental health - the singer will also be absent from concerts this year.

What really matters, though, is how colossal the trio sound, whether reaching for the stars, curled up in a ball, or somehow both, as on the portentous opener Renegade, about the disconnect between our "hopes and dreams" and Manchester's rain-soaked Piccadilly Gardens.

Certainly, when Goodwin sings "And if you walk out that door then you're walking out forever", his regret feels real, and In The Butterfly Houses psychedelic guitars are similarly emotionally complex, its "secret gardens" and "flickering flames" in contrast to "I saw her standing there, knife in hand". A Drop In The Ocean may be less stormy, but its "You and me against the world" sentiments still carry far, while Last Year's Man is suitably, romantically windswept.

Goodwin's even found begging the mystic Saint Theresa to "dream for me", but the clash between acoustic intro and climax best captures their momentous, sometimes Elbow-like appeal.