Django Django – Doveland

Django Django are one of the most progressive and consistently adventurous bands that the UK has produced since the turn of the century but, even by those standards, Doveland represents a major reinvention. The sheer volume of material that the group’s individual members produced by themselves during the pandemic across home studios in north London and Margate ultimately led to a complete rethink of the manner in which they usually work; rather than finding points of compromise between differing styles and melding them together, they chose to keep their ideas separate instead. That meant their last record, 2023’s Off Planet, was avowedly electronic and eclectic, a sprawling double-album littered with collaborations. On Doveland, they head in the opposite direction, pursuing a sound that first presented itself in bassist Jimmy Dixon’s lockdown demos, which were defined by the acoustic guitar.

Accordingly, what we get here is the most organic-sounding Django Django LP to date, one that eschews their signature synths for a more natural instrumental palette; guitars, piano and vocals are at the fore, while tasteful strings, brass and woodwind provide colour and punctuation. This is a loose concept album based around the idea of a search for a place that doesn’t exist, taking its title from Doveland, Wisconsin, a town rooted in urban myth that appears on no maps but appears to have Mandela Effected its way into the minds of many who swear they once lived and worked there.

There's a deep emotional undercurrent to the way in which they’ve handled this concept; the hushed, folky opener Meteorite is a reflection on grief, written by Dixon after the death of his father, as is the murky, atmospheric Year Of The Snake, which drummer and producer David Maclean penned as a rumination on the thick fog of loss after the passing of his sister, deepening the haunting quality of the repeated lyric 'I can’t find an easy way out'.

The achingly pretty Quicksand visits similar territory, as does the jazzy pop of Left Adrift and So Heavy, the composition of which proves that the band remain experimentalists at heart even on what is, in many ways, their most structurally traditionalist album. And for all its sparseness and sadness – the influence of Ry Cooder’s score for Paris, Texas is palpable throughout – Doveland ends in upbeat fashion on Max Pope collaboration Feel Alright, on which gospel backing provides the sound of the sun breaking through the clouds.

Listen to: Still Life, Year Of The Snake, So Heavy