Happy June everyone. Even if I didn’t have a calendar I would know it’s June because I saw a June Bug the other night (coincidentally in May, but whatever). It was flying into our front door as if it wanted to be let in. We didn’t let it in.
…
I’m going to go in a much different direction this week. I don’t listen to a lot of rock these days but Doves are definitely on the top of my list in terms of rock bands that I can appreciate. I first found out about them around the time “Some Cities” was released. I was drawn to it because of all the little things that set it apart – very well produced, great guitar work, interesting instrumentation, neat little hooks, lots of detail in the mixing.
The song ideas themselves are relatively simple but all these things combined really take them to a whole new level – “greater than the sum of its parts”. Overall I would say this album has had a profound impact on my rock/pop writing for The WAX, more so than anything else as of late.
I wouldn’t say this is necessarily my favourite Doves song – the little breaks are a little bit too fromage for me – but I chose this because of the ending (@2:52), which is quite possibly one of my favourite moments in a “rock” song (I use the term loosely – is this even really rock?). It’s infectious, it’s deep, and it doesn’t try to be anything. To me that’s the epitome of good music.
From Some Cities c. 2005, “Someday Soon” by Doves: