Django Django released Doveland on November 6 through Clouds Hill. The quartet took the album’s name from an internet story about a Midwestern town supposedly lost from the map. The town belongs to folklore. Its appeal for the band was the idea of searching for a place that might only exist in memory. Nick McCarthy and Polly Ester worked with the group in the German countryside on the twelve-song record.
The scale is easy to miss if you only look at the dates. Three years ago, Off Planet arrived in instalments before its twenty-one tracks came together in June 2023. Self Esteem appears near the start of that album, and guests including Jack Peñate and Stealing Sheep turn up further along. Doveland has nine fewer songs. Add up the durations listed by the band and the new album comes to 42 minutes exactly.
There are still guests. Hak Baker is on “Little Me”, the fourth track, and Max Pope is on “Feel Alright”, the closer. Their positions give a listener a straightforward way into the album. One collaboration arrives before the halfway point and the other is saved for the end. The short “Bird Song” turns up ninth, between “So Heavy” and “Indigo Road”. At 1:25, it takes up less than half the time of either neighbouring song.
Anyone who came in through “Cameos” will find it early on the record, directly after “Meteorite”. “Dirty Hotel Blues”, another of the advance tracks, sits right before the Max Pope collaboration. Those are useful points of recognition when putting on the whole album. The compact running time also makes it practical to hear how the band gets from the first single’s place in the opening stretch to the two songs at the end.
There are separate opportunities to catch the group in Liverpool. The November 7 listing is at Jacaranda Baltic, one day after the release. The March 8, 2027 date is at Rough Trade Liverpool and belongs to the later run, with shows in Cardiff and London listed that same week. The two Liverpool dates are four months apart and are listed at different venues, so the city name alone is an easy way to pick the wrong listing.
For anyone staying home, the band’s store lists a mint LP and a CD with a booklet alongside the digital album. Both physical listings say shipping is expected around release day. The digital track list is already complete, which means there’s no need to wait for a later instalment to hear how “Feel Alright” works as the last song.
