In no way are Doves a band branded on thievery. The British trio has built a career on unconventional, original and daring music, with only subtle influences sprinkled throughout their first three albums. Their fourth effort, Kingdom of Rust, however, seems to borrow a bit more regularly from some other noteworthy U.K. acts. The result is an album that often misses out on the band’s trademark gritty, Euro-sound, but also benefits from higher levels of processing and polish. It’s an ambitious and diverse collection of work, pitting synthesizers against orchestral arrangements, all while remaining an unabashed rock record. Despite some moments that feel eerily familiar to other artists, Doves perpetuate enough of their own sound and come out with a solid 45+ minutes of music.

While Doves took a stripped down approach in 2005’s Some Cities, this album shows a surprising dedication to manufactured noise, storming out with a fresh, dance-rock bang in “Jetstream.” The computerized tones are felt even harder on “The Outsiders,” which at first sounds like Disney Land’s electric parade on speed. The electric bugs are quickly swept into the background after the song’s aggressive intro, leaving the band to then take center stage. This give-and-take is exactly why the album works. Unlike some bands that go on ill-contrived four-minute romps of sampling and over-saturation (e.g. Bloc Party), Doves use the computer as a compliment to their music, not an instrument in itself.

While the album finds a nice electronic balance, its greatest weakness may be that it’s unapologetic eclectic. The cutesy piano played during the chorus of the title track sounds like it’s pulled straight off a Coldplay record, while the layering of acoustic rhythm guitar and melodic electric guitar on “Spellbound” sounds like a few separate tunes off Radiohead’s The Bends. Thanks to Jimi Goodwin’s unmistakably lethargic vocals, however, and the fact that his band still leans towards a classic, emotive approach, Doves never strays too far from their core on Kingdom of Rust.

Even when the band is caught taking an obvious cue from The Beatles‘ “Strawberry Fields Forever” with a looping mellotron intro to “Winter Hill,” the group quickly pulls back from its gut for inspiration. The lyrics talk of a nostalgic love that will forever be linked to a hill called winter, and the accompanying melody is free-flowing and alluring. It’s easily the most fully realized track of the bunch, and arguably the best songwriting ever pulled off by the trio.

The album loses some steam in the second half as the band seemingly runs out of ideas and Goodwin’s lyrics begin to lend themselves to melodrama. This is most clear on the record’s final track, “Lifeline,” where the band builds a crescendo to nowhere, and then tries to resolve things by preaching to the choir about how difficult life can be: “Sometimes it’s hard to see things straight, trying to make sense of a single day. Sometimes you seem to spend your life trying, well I’m just looking for my lifeline.” Next time, Doves would be better served to end things the way they started: with a surprise.

MP3