Greater Manchester three-piece Doves have announced their return with new album, Constellations For The Lonely, set for release on February 14th, 2025.
Doves have made their return with the powerful and brooding new single ‘Renegade’, as well as sharing details of their sixth studio album ‘Constellations For The Lonely’. Check it below, along with our frank interview with the band.
The band have been teasing new material over the last week online and with posters in their native Manchester. Now, they’ve confirmed that ‘Constellations For The Lonely will arrive on Valentine’s Day 2025, as a follow-up their chart-topping 2020 album ‘The Universal Want’ – marking the trio’s first full-length record in 11 years, following 2009’s ‘Kingdom Of Rust’.
The upcoming record comes as somewhat of a surprise considering the band’s recent inactivity since releasing The Universal Want in 2020. The album, which became Doves’ third number one album and marked their first LP in 11 years, arrived in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic which prevented them from touring.
Once restrictions were lifted, which allowed concerts to go ahead again, Doves did plot to take to the road in 2021 but cancelled the planned performances due to frontman Jimi Goodwin suffering with his mental health.
At the time, Goodwin explained: “I’m unfortunately unable to commit to forthcoming Doves live dates, meaning they have to be cancelled.”
Goodwin continued: “My decision to bow out, is believe me, not something I’ve taken lightly. One should never apologise for having issues with their mental health, but I do want to say ‘sorry’ to all that have bought tickets. I’m truly grateful for the patience, love and understanding of my brothers Andy, Jez and Rebelski.”
From that point, it seemed uncertain whether Doves were still active, but now, it’s been revealed they were secretly making plans in the background about new music.
The album, which is set to be released through EMI, was recorded in North Wales, Greater Manchester and Cheshire. Appropriately, their new single, ‘Renegade’, was the first track that Doves recorded for Constellations For The Lonely.
Drummer Andy Williams said of the new single: “Looking at everyone’s lives over recent years, and considering the news at the moment, ‘Renegade’ feels a lot more loaded in retrospect. We wanted to go for a dystopian feel, thinking about Manchester itself over the next century or so. A totally imaginary thing… ‘Blade Runner’ set in our home city.”
‘Renegade’ is the first single by Doves in over four years, which is considerably less time than the 11 years it took between their fourth and fifth album.
ez Williams from Doves explained the band’s previous prolonged hiatus between 2010 and 2019, recalling, “We did our last gig at Warehouse Project in Manchester in 2010, and it was one of those strange gigs. You finish it, you go home and at some point one person to phone to ask ‘you alright, when we in next?’ but that phone call never happened.”
“There wasn’t a falling out, but you know when you need a break when someone eats an apple and it gets on your tits,” he said of the personal dynamic between the band during that decade. “It’s a bit like being in a confined space for so long that you have to change it up. I don’t know if we could have carried on if we didn’t have that break, put it that way.”
At this stage, Doves have not announced any tour dates to coincide with the release of Constellations For The Lonely, which is set for release on February 14th, 2025.