It’s been twenty-three years since Belly last graced us with an album, 1995’s massively underrated ‘King’, and much has changed in their absence. When the band split in 1996, a reaction in part to the poor sales of ‘king’, Tanya Donelly went on to a successful solo career, and the band scattered to the winds leaving just two albums in their wake and little prospect of a reunion. Time, however, has been kind to the band, and whilst ‘King’ may not have fitted the musical climate into which it was launched in 1995, subsequent re-evaluations have seen it achieve the recognition it so richly deserves. It seems fitting, then, that ‘dove’ continues very much from where ‘King’ left off, blending the dreamier, more ethereal qualities of ‘star’ with occasional bursts of frazzled alt-rock energy.
It all started in typically low-key fashion, when the band quietly announced, via their own website, a series of reunion gigs slated for 2016. This well-received tour was followed by a Pledge Campaign to fund a new album and, on May 4th, some two years after the band first returned, ‘Dove’ finally arrived, clad in sweetly psychedelic artwork and offering ten new songs that do much to enhance the legacy of a band still beloved of their fanbase. Pressed on gorgeous, turquoise vinyl, the only thing missing from the package is a 4AD logo, and, between the shimmering artwork and quality, heavy-weight vinyl (not to mention the free download with bonus tracks), this is an album that’s most certainly worth buying on LP rather than CD.
‘Dove’ arrives to the summer strum of ‘Stars Align’ and the choice of opening number is an inspired one. With Tanya’s voice caught between a strummed acoustic on one side and a chugging rhythm guitar on the other, the rush is instant and it’s clear that none of Belly’s pop nous has deserted them. Always a band possessed of a tough core beneath the sugary surface (just check out ‘super-connected’), it’s immediately clear that Belly are back at their best on this album and ‘Stars align’ packs both a bitter-sweet lyric and more than a touch of distortion on the lead guitar work, the latter serving to accentuate the infectious melody that lies at the song’s heart. Whilst ‘stars align’ sets the scene, it’s the effortlessly wonderful ‘shiny one’ that really brings the quality of the album home. With heat-haze guitars, a somnolent beat and gloriously layered vocals, ‘shiny one’ is a perfect pop track in the spirit of the Cure via R.E.M. and it peels back the years as the listener is cast back to the mid-90s when alternative rock ruled the airwaves. Next up, ‘girl’ is a remarkably uplifting pop rock track complete with acoustic guitar and strings. It’s slight and sunny, but it pales in comparison to the Radiohead-esque ‘faceless’ which, with its downbeat and reverb-drenched intro, wrongfoots the listener before morphing into a mid-paced alt-rock song that serves to emphasises the raw beauty of Tanya’s voice. The first side spins to an end with ‘suffer the fools’, a truly lovely acoustic track that slowly introduces strings and piano to grand effect. A track that emphasises Tanya’s rare ability to combine wide-eyed innocence with just the tiniest hint of menace, the emotional honesty of the track is damn close to heart-breaking in its simple sincerity and it stands alongside ‘shiny one’ as a stand out track on the first side.
Opening side two, a tremolo guitar leads into the bubble-gum rock of ‘mine’, a fair successor to the simmering genius of ‘super-connected’ and a reminder that Belly aren’t afraid to rock when the mood takes them. With its dense rhythm and deftly handled dynamic shifts, ‘human child’ is a track of infinite surprises, the denouement caught forever between wonder and heartbreak. It provides a neat break in pace, before the taut college-rock of ‘army of clay’ harks back to the band’s roots with some nice psychedelic lead breaks thrown in for good measure. Perhaps the album’s most surprising track, the country twang of ‘artifact’ (sic) is all gossamer sighs and liquid slide guitar before slipping into something smoother and sweeter, recalling the glorious Bee and Flower in the process. The album concludes with the sweetly simple ‘heartstrings’, a slow-paced and heartfelt coda to the album that brings the shades down on a most unexpected and especially welcome reunion.
Belly’s two albums, ‘Star’ and ‘King’ were, arguably, released out of time. If they’d appeared just a little earlier (perhaps during R.E.M.’s stint on IRS) or just a little later, they’d have received greater recognition. As it was, the mid-90s were a tough time and ‘king’ fell through the cracks. Listening now, both to ‘King’ and to ‘dove’ as its natural successor, it’s easy to see the remarkable quality of the band’s song writing and ‘dove’ is effortlessly addictive across its ten tracks. Highlights include the dreamy ‘shiny one’, the beautifully naked ‘suffer the fools’ and the taut ‘mine’, but the album as a whole is a treasure and we can only hope that the band stay the course this time round. For now, we should simply be grateful for this remarkable return from a much-missed band. 9
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