The Black Angels - Doves - single review
The Black Angels will cap off their incredible year in style with their new single Doves released on December 8th and an accompanying autumn tour.
Doves shows The Black Angels as a band who since their sophomore album ‘Directions to See a Ghost’, released in May, have hypnotised and mesmerised their fans with their invented genre ‘Native American drone ‘n’ roll’.
The Black Angels hail from Austin, Texas, and although their name may well evoke images of heavy-metal scream-rockers, this is not at all the case, with the band instead creating drone-based psychedelic rock experimentations.
Doves is very much in this style, though remains tuneful, the reverb on the drums and the quietness of the vocals in the mix gives them a distant sound that locks in your subconscious and plays, by means of the psychedelic influences, on dark and obsessive, and light and floating parts of the emotions.
The pounding drums and relentless, frayed guitars behind which the mantra-like voice of lead singer Alex Maas sings his drawn out words place this song in a similar style to The Velvet Underground & Nico (after a song of whom The Black Angels named themselves) or The Jesus and Mary Chain, or even, less distinctly A Storm in Heaven era Verve, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and even an American Teenage Fanclub.
In any case, Doves is a fantastic single from a great band for which it is well worth the expenditure of your finest English pennies. Take a listen to them on their MySpace.
You can see The Black Angels live in the UK in:
Manchester, Ruby Lounge – 15th December
Glasgow, Stero – 16th December
London, ULU – 18th December
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