Doves return with first single in 11 years, 'Carousels': "It's a mission statement" | NME

Doves have returned with their first new music in 11 years. Check out ‘Carousels’ below along with our interview with frontman Jimi Goodwin.

After reuniting for a string of gigs last year that included a huge sold-out show at London’s Royal Albert Hall for Teenage Cancer Trust, the Cheshire indie trio have been teasing fans about progress on their long-awaited fifth album and the imminent release of a new track.

Now they’ve shared ‘Carousels’ – a subtle yet groove-driven reflection of childhood, based around a drum sample by the late Tony Allen.

“‘Carousels’ is a really exciting track to come back with, especially now as it’s shot through with a lot of hope,” Goodwin told NME. “It calls back to going to the fair when you’re a kid, dodging all the psychos and getting your waltzer money taken off you.

“We’re still really excited about trying stuff that we’ve never done and going to places that we as a band have never been to, and ‘Carousel’ certainly does that. We’ve never just been a band to plug in and play guitar – we draw on all of these different influences and make up our own.”

He continued: “It’s a good harbinger of the album and just a great mission statement. Without having any agenda or a backstory as to what the record is, it just shows off our love of sonic weirdness, atmosphere and energy. We unanimously knew that this would be great as the first thing that people hear of us coming out of the gate after all this time. It’s a mission statement.”

As for their nod to Fela Kuti legend Tony Allen, Goodwin said: “Andy and Jez had a rough demo of the song with the sample when we got together again in 2017 and I said straight away, ‘We’ve got to work on that – it’s too special to let slip though our fingers’. Tony Allen was the don daddy. He was an amazing musician and an amazing guy. I never met him, but you could tell how cool and passionate he was.”

Goodwin added: “We find ourselves in the middle of such strange world events. It’s still exciting to be releasing music, because I’m dead proud of what we’ve managed to pull together after 11 years. It’s like what Picasso said when German troops marched into Paris. He was painting an apple at the time and said, ‘Keep drawing your apple’. Keep doing what you do.”







More news on live dates and more new music from Doves is expected in the coming months. Their last album was 2009’s ‘Kingdom Of Rust‘ before a hiatus that saw Goodwin release a solo album and bandmates Jez and Andy Williams release music as Black Rivers.

Check back soon for more of our interview with Doves.