There are few acts who sum up the sound of their homeland quite as well as Manchester's Doves. 'Some Cities' could be defined as the final part of a trilogy that has been gripped with a sense of epic melancholy but through those dense walls of sound there is always that sign of hope. Many will be drawn to the album via the excellent single 'Black And White Town'; the formula in its most accessable form, it's as much informed by Northern Soul as it is by Mancunian misery. The next bid for anthemic status would probably be 'Walk In Fire' but here Doves misfire; the song coming across as an inferior version of 'There Goes The Fear' which featured on their last album. It's a rare slip though. The overall feel of this album evokes the beauty and misty-eyed nostalgia of black and white films, like a rock equivalent to Portishead. 'Shadows Of Salford', 'Snowden' and 'Ambition' are all rather serene, the latter track making full use of the echo and spaces of a Benedictine monastery. And although this is by no means a perfect album there's an uplifting, almost religious quality to it which shows a new depth to Doves' songwriting.