Finally it arrives. Six years after they last troubled the charts as Sub Sub comes Doves' debut album. And it's a remarkable record in that it distils aurally the turbulent times they've been through, a putting-to-bed of the past with enough hope pointing through to the future.
It opens with the instrumental 'Firesuite', not the most stunning of salvos perhaps but a clear indication of the band's intent you will be brought in and submerged in their sound. 'Here It Comes' arrives next, all stabbing piano and burbly electronics, as Jimi Goodwin assures that "Here it comes/Here comes my time in the sun".
'Sea Song' is a masterpiece of controlled atmospherics, rolling along on acoustic before sound waves crash in a blur of percussion and guitar. However, 'Rise' is the album's anthem, encapsulating all that makes it great in a few minutes menacing guitar, soaring vocals, light and dark in equal measure.
Only 'Melody Calls' sits incongruously, a jaunty paean to a girl who "stops out til morning". 'Catch The Sun' is the band rising from the ashes and heading off to better times. Their first single - the dense, throbbing 'The Cedar Room' - still sounds as magical as it first did nearly two years ago.
It ends with 'A House', a sombre reminder of how this album almost ceased to exist as the band lost their studio ("It was a day like this when my house burned down") and there it is, finished, it's been said, only the future to look forward to. And on this evidence it should be a very bright one.
by Simon P Ward