Constellations For The Lonely
Album ∙ Alternative ∙ 2025
Doves
If ever a band could seize victory from the jaws of defeat, it’s Doves. Rising, quite literally, from the flames of house outfit Sub Sub after their studio burned down at the end of the ’90s, the Manchester trio—Jimi Goodwin and twin brothers Andy and Jez Williams—alchemized a peculiarly northern strain of melancholy into soaring, atmospheric rock, scoring two Mercury Music Prize nominations in the process. Constellations for the Lonely is the group’s sixth album and their second following a decade-long hiatus, which ended with 2020’s The Universal Want. However, Goodwin’s issues with addiction and mental health meant that he was unavailable for much of the album’s recording. Rather than sounding like the work of a band in crisis, though, Constellations for the Lonely is one of Doves’ best efforts yet.
From dystopian, Blade Runner-evoking opener “Renegade” and the cinematic, neo-psychedelic sweep of “Cold Dreaming” through the aching, Smiths-like “Last Year’s Man” and closer “Southern Bell,” with its triumphant blaze of glory, Doves sound stronger than ever here. “All the issues outside of the studio were really worrying and we faced a lot of challenges, but the musicmaking itself was really good. I guess the studio was like our safe space,” Andy Williams tells Apple Music. “We had to grab Jimi when we could but there’s a certain chemistry when the three of us are in a room together. There’s a certain chemistry
