Doves have been in the game for 27 years (give or take a 7-year hiatus) and have yet to have a massive moment. What they have had, is setbacks. “We’ve had so many challenges put in front of us. The older you get the more you have to rise to them. It’s fucking exhausting”. How come then, in Jez Williams’ words, the band “is exactly where we should be”? This one needs some explanation…

SEASON 11, EP 2: DOVES ON OVERCOMING SETBACKS AND BEING CONFIDENT IN THEIR OWN CREATIVE POWER

Doves are one of those bands that were never in for an easy flight (blush emoji). The band's career has been the proverbial rollercoaster ride of ups and downs. “The curse of Doves” has seen the band recover from an early studio fire (before they were even called Doves), seeing their A&R advocates get fired from labels, an extended hiatus (during the music industry’s shift to streaming), having the tour for their last album halted by COVID, and then returning to the scene at a time when the band’s singer Jimi Goodwin is available only sporadically due to ongoing anxiety issues and recovery from addictions. This more recent development means that Doves will tour the new album without the presence of their frontman. It has meant that Doves have never quite got the bandwagon fully rolling - the momentum needed to build success on success. Jez Williams reflects on it all with refreshing honesty. 

“We’ve had so many challenges put in front of us. The older you get the more you have to rise to them. It’s fucking exhausting”. 

Friend and fan of the band, Elbow singer and broadcaster Guy Garvey has always supported his fellow Northwest indie kin. I recall a few years back - probably at the time of the last Doves album The Universal Want - Garvey played a Doves song on his Finest Hour show (BBC 6 Music) and announced how much he was hoping that “things would finally happen for the Doves”. Of course, his own band Elbow had experienced such a moment a decade before, elevated from indie try-hards to arena pop stars through the double-whammy of a hit single and a “Glastonbury moment” (2011). 

The Doves have yet to have such a moment, but in the music business of 2025, those moments no longer even exist. Instead, bands of ‘modest success’ must crack on, do their best work, put it out in the world and hope people take some notice. If, as a result, they can reconnect with fans, get out on the road, and make another record, then that is what counts as success. Carrying on regardless. But, Doves have also had success by any hard industry measure. Hit singles (two UK top 10), sold out tours and no less than a trio of number one albums (The Last Broadcast, Some Cities, The Universal Want). 

“Apparently we are [successful]. Apparently we are the most underrated band ever. I do have gratitude. Even though we’ve been dealt some pretty bad cards, we’re also appreciated, so that levels that one up”. 

And so Doves soldier on, more resilient than most bands would be in the face of such a constant stream of setbacks. That's partly due to adaptability (which other bands could sell out a tour, sans frontperson?), positive attitude and, importantly, being self-reliant. The fine new album Constellations For The Lonely is a full-scale DIY job, self-produced and released under their own label Doves Music Limited. In a world where ‘independent artists’ seem more dependent than ever on industry gatekeepers, Doves can get it done on their own. Well, almost - Constellations is distributed through the new distribution arm EMI North. 

Better still, the whole project is influenced by the 1982 classic sci-fi noir Blade Runner - as fine a cultural reference point as you need for escaping from the pressures of the outside world, while letting them become part of the bigger story. “When we made the album, it was 4-5 hours away from reality each day, a safe space away from all the shit. That’s what got us through it”. It’s another creative high for a band that is definitely, somehow, underrated. Yet at the heart of the band is a creative power that they can rely on, even when they operate as three or two. That’s something Jez is both confident but humble about. 

“I tell you who is there for us…the music. I know it sounds cheesy, but it has always been there as a constant, and a guiding light. I know that’s a cliche but cliches do have a tendency to be true”. 

Let’s not call Constellations For The Lonely a comeback then, but perhaps this is the start of Doves being free to go where they want, knowing that their fans will follow, that they will get some radio support, and that the recognition and critical acclaim will keep on coming. Recall that final scene in Blade Runner, when Rutger Hauer’s combat replicant Roy Batty finally expires, his last act is to set a bird free to fly up into the rain…

A dove. 

Constellations For The Lonely is out on EMI North, buy it here.