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TORONTO -- When Doves guitarist Jez Williams hears that his on-the-road reading material bears a fleeting resemblance to the band's third full-length release, "Some Cities," he doesn't seem surprised.
In fact, Williams' well-worn copy of F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby," and its ensuing tale of greed and brutality among the posh and beautiful socialites living in Long Island, seems fitting.
Though the Doves find their bare-bones brand of rock, in which singer Jimi Goodwin's sugary vocals and brother Andy's echo-chamber drums complement Williams' varnished guitar, lumped into the same category as Coldplay and Athlete, "Some Cities" is a bittersweet love letter to the group's hometown.
"We were making observations about Manchester as a city and how it is changing," Williams says from the couch of the trio's homely looking tour bus during a recent stop in Toronto. "There's something missing when people start pulling down these beautiful buildings. And to see it happening back home, it felt like our hearts were being ripped out."
Shrugging off the Coldplay comparison, "we get that quite a lot because we're from England and we're not metal," he laughs, Williams says Doves' influences range from Manchester synth-superstars New Order, to American underground icons, the Velvet Underground.
Although the group has enjoyed modest success this side of the pond (they co-headlined the Across The Narrows Festival with Oasis and Jet on Staten Island earlier this month), they are bona fide superstars in the U.K. Following the meteoric rise of 2002's "The Last Broadcast," "Some Cities" burned a path to the No. 1 spot on British album charts this past spring.
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But for a group that had its beginnings in the dance club combo Sub Sub, the Doves wanted to be able to explore varying styles this time out.
"The album produces different kinds of atmospheres," he says. "We wanted to write something with a bit more spontaneity about it, and, at the same time, craft a record that sounds a bit more intimate."
So with producer Ben Hillier (Blur, Depeche Mode) helping guide the project, which was recorded in the U.K. last year, the Williams brothers and Goodwin set about making music that daringly flirts between groovy Brit power-pop ("Some Cities," "Black And White Town," "Sky Starts Falling") and hypnotic, string-laden elegy ("Snowden," The Storm"). And somewhere in between, the group manages to cross musical paths with Radiohead.
The "Subterranean Homesick Alien"-sounding "Walk In The Fire," and "There, There"-inspired "Almost Forgot Myself," show the trio having fun reinterpreting Phil Selway's pulsating drum beats, Jonny Greenwood's aggressive-sounding guitar and Thom Yorke's melancholic yodel.
And on the expressive, piano-based "Shadows Of Salford," Goodwin's nasal vocal recalls John Lennon's incantation of "I Am The Walrus" without the "goo goo g'joob."
"I suppose we wanted to spend less time on computers and keyboards and more time on actually playing," Williams explains. "We're the kind of band that works on one song at a time. So we end up generating a lot of different sounds."
Sporting days-old stubble, and an all-black ensemble, the shaggy-haired guitarist thinks the pacing of "Some Cities" lends itself to live shows. The seamless way uptempo tracks segue into the disc's rainy-day numbers speaks volumes.
"We're not the kind of band that prances about the stage, and does all sorts of rock poses and engages in bits of cliched rambling," he says. "We pick the tunes very carefully and make sure it isn't too self-indulgent.
"The music does the talking."
Returning to "Some Cities'" Manchester-inspiration ("Can't I make you see?/ Too much history coming down/ Another building brought to the ground," Goodwin sings on the record's title track), Williams says that many of the album's 11 songs are comments on the city's aesthetic and social transformation.
"Buildings are literally being torn down," he says, "and no thought of quality goes into what's being put in its place. A lot of it is just cheap. And it's sad, because this affects people's lives."
As for the future, Williams promises there won't be another three-year drought between albums. Running his hands through his hair, he says the Doves have got the hunger. After the band's tour wraps in December, the Williams brothers and Goodwin will take a mini-break.
"Then we'll come back, do something that's going to excite us and make sure we don't pee ourselves."