Jimi Goodwin - Oh! Whiskey
It’s been a while since we heard any new Doves material (and, before this weekend, a while since I’d listened to any old Doves material); nearly five years have passed since Kingdom of Rust was released in April 2009. Be thankful, then, that Doves frontman Jimi Goodwin has a solo album, Odludek out on 24th March, and a tour slot supporting Elbow to look forward to in April.
In advance of the album, he’s released a video for lead single ‘Oh! Whiskey’, a suitably smoky-sounding acoustic cry for hope, set to an animation of a flock of birds over a city. Like the best of solo works, it evokes memories of the band without ever coming too close to sound-a-like, or giving the suspicion of a lost b-side or a band-member struggling to escape his ties. Goodwin promises an eclectic album free from any influence other than his own; this is a promising beginning.