Review Summary: An Orion's Belter
Album number six for Doves and the second after their comeback from a ten year hiatus, the first thing to say here is I don't feel this is markedly weaker than any of their previous albums, and that's despite the logistical difficulties of covering for Jimi Goodwin's absence this time due to personal difficulties (these mostly seem to be centred around alcoholism). So straight away that achievement's all the more impressive, but at the same time it must be emphasised this isn't an album asking for, or relying upon, your sympathy.
Cutting to the chase, the appeal of 'Constellations for the Lonely' is somewhat similar to that of 'Kingdom of Rust', where there's less moodiness and atmosphere (like that found on the band's first two albums) and more of a bright and rocking presentation. These tracks go for high variety in style ahead of flowing like a perfectly segued journey, as was the case on 'The Last Broadcast' you could argue. Perhaps this hints at why this release won't threaten to be heralded as the high water mark in their career, or maybe it's all personal preference, but it certainly makes for an instantly grabby listen either way.
The four or five highlights here are absolutely up there with their previous standout songs; 'Cold Dreaming' features Andy and Jez Williams on shared vocal duties and perhaps partly because of this boasts atypical melodies for a Doves song, ending up somewhere closer to 'Attack of the Grey Lantern' Mansun in tone; 'In the Butterfly House' is trippy, nay otherworldly even, and most importantly stands out as highly unique among the band's existing oeuvre; then you have the powerful 'Strange Weather', that slowly builds a mighty head of steam, and 'Last Year's Man' which becomes the big moment for Andy Williams on lead vocal duties, his more fragile singing style hitting the perfect introspective note.
The existence of such a highlights list hints at the relative weakness here; the remaining songs aren't as strong, and more than this the tracklist is noticeably front-loaded, with tracks 1-6 containing all the best material and 7-10 being more uneventful. That's almost the traditional way with mainstream 'rock albums' of this sort and Doves are nothing if not traditional, so maybe even that weakness is just another soothing factor of everything being in its right place, despite the offscreen turmoil.
