Album Review: Belly - Dove

Once a refreshing alternative to the grunge and riot grrrl scenes of the early '90s, Belly's two-album career was perhaps cut frustratingly short in 1996 by predictable infighting and crumblings. 

A return to the live circuit in 2016 was welcomed as a chance for a satisfying final chapter, but Dove raises an interesting question regarding the relationship between the maturation of a band and their fans, because, unlike many reforming acts, they don't rehash the sounds of old glories. How willing, for example, are fans to embrace the fringes of (whisper it) country music? Human Child and Suffer The Fools kinda go there, embracing some predictable country tropes, but Tanya Donelly's sweetly lilting vocals carry it off.

There's nothing as anthemic or celebratory as debut single Gepetto or Feed The Tree, but Dove opens with some grunt courtesy of Mine (on which Donelly is sweetly backed by Gail Greenwood's coos) and Shiny One's chorus, which briefly echoes Aerosmith's Sweet Emotion, and things don't get any heavier. Instead, Dove flits its wings in a happy middle airspace between the lightness of debut album Star, the heavier King and Donelly's own rustic solo inclinations.