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Doves

Doves 'grafting hard'

The as-yet-untitled opus is due to hit the shops in the autumn, but the trio felt that they’d better reassure fans that it will be ready with a statement on their website, saying that if anyone was "under the impression that we’ve been sitting back holidaying/taking it easy, they’d be mistaken, we’ve been grafting hard for the last few months, writing lots & lots of songs/music."

The delay in recording has been due to the effort of following-up Some Cities. As they put it, "this record has required a little more writing and work to find a direction, something that feels new to us, that’s just the way it us sometimes, but thank **** we’re getting there now."

In a change to their normal studio, the band spent November in a cottage in the Peak District to give them a different environment for writing – plus a view of a llama farm, which they say sorts the front cover of the new album – though we’ll wait and see on that one. Expect to hear the first results by festival time.