Doves (not the Doves) have at last proven with Some Cities that they are indeed human. Their first two releases Lost Souls and The Last Broadcast were near perfect slices of grand Brit-pop in the tradition of Radiohead and Coldplay. Doves, by the same token, were even a little bit more hip for lack of slobbering, universal ubiquity. A double-edged sword this quasi-obscurity for it tends to make a band such as this pine for the kind of superstar success that often poisons the very well from which they draw there greatness.

Doves, just so I'm clear, are not the kind of band that everyone has heard of, nay they operate at the penumbra of the mainstream in much the same way that The Soundtrack of Our Lives, Gomez and Flaming Lips do and, in so doing, maintain their indie cred, while at the same time producing music that is every bit as accessible as bands who might contribute a track to Now That's What I Call Music 19 or whatever.

As for Some Cities, it can safely be stated that the band have not strayed so much as a minuscule iota from their tried-and-true formula. Again a double edged sword - as it's nice to have another dosage of more of the same, but for a band that trades on indie cred, a third album might have been a good jumping off place to expand on their approach in order to keep the fans on their toes a bit. Some Cities, as such, flirts dangerously with the disappointing, by offering up such a play-it-safe record that, more so than their previous work, suffers from too much same-ishness from song to song and refuses to even remotely challenge the listener.

I'm not trying to suggest that Doves were in a position where a departure as dramatic as a Kid A would have been a smart move, but Some Cities is the kind of title that can easily be morphed into "Same Ditties." Overall, the record is solid and they've wisely steered clear of a polished over-produced affair, and there are a handful of tracks that find Doves experimenting a bit with fusing their grandiose Brit sound with a less-stuffy Paul Weller (circa Style Council) playfulness. Still and all the band has reached that vanishing point where they need to break some fresh dirt if they are to stay among the vanguard of ethereal-pop indie acts who wish to hold-on to their core fans. They would do well to pay attention to bands such as Fire Theft and Mars Volta before they wind up as Dove bores.