With new-found optimism aplenty, The Last Broadcast sees frontman Jimi Goodwin and multi-instrumentalist brothers Andy and Jez Williams soaring to new if perhaps grandiose heights. Two years on from their Mercury Music Prize nominated debut Lost Souls and the dishevelled guitar-toting Manchester trio look to have finally put the demise of their ill-fated dance act Sub Sub, the burning down of their studio and the later death of their manager Rob Gretton behind them.

The thundering opening beat and spiralling guitars of "Words" are reminiscent of Ride at their bombastic peak, while "There Goes the Fear" relentlessly reverberating with Latin rhythms, New Order-influenced guitars and sweeping vocals is nothing less than breathtaking. Quiet reprieve comes with M62, a delicate haunting reworking of King Crimson's "Moonchild", bizarrely recorded under the M62 flyover in Manchester, its desolate atmospherics are juxtaposed to the remainder of the album. With the thrusting onslaught of "Pounding", the obligatory earthy rock of "NY" and the joyous pastoral acoustic-led splendour of "Caught by the River", the Doves have crafted a liberating sophomore album that happily combines the uplifting anthemic essence of dance with good old rock & roll. --Christopher Barret