Black Rivers - Black Rivers (2015)

As two-thirds of Manchester’s Doves, the Williams brothers Jez and Andy achieved major success with four hit albums: the classic ‘Lost Souls’ debut (2000), the #1 hits ‘Last Broadcast’ (2002) and ‘Some Cities’ (2005), and 2009’s ‘Kingdom of Rust’ which peaked at #2.

After ‘Kingdom of Rust’, the pair needed a break from each other, as a band if not as brothers. Guitarist Jez plunged himself into electronic music while drummer Andy formed a new band with some friends. Gradually, the brothers found themselves making music together once again - as Black Rivers.

Black Rivers decamped to a remote cottage in Anglesey in the winter of 2013 in order to write and record new material. Sharing vocal duties, they boosted their sound with Jez playing bass and keyboards, and Andy contributing piano in addition to their regular instruments. They also called on the expertise of Claudius Mittendorfer (Johnny Marr, Muse, Temples) for mixing duties.

“Some bands are rooted in the reality of the here and now,” says Jez. “I suppose we’ve always been about escapism: searching for something. That’s the link, but I wouldn’t want to think we sound too much like Doves. The exciting thing about Black Rivers is that we had the freedom to go wherever we wanted.”