DOVER Let Me Out(The Single Of The Year)!

Let Me Out-Single of the year!
Do Ya!-Contains the PopJustice theme? ?
Keep On Moving-Pop song of epic productions...

You might assume that the catchiest single/album of 2006 might be produced by Xenomania and Richard X or perhaps at least originating from the U.S, Sweden or the U.K. But to my ears, its a Spanish group hailing from Madrid who've trumped all the usual suspects. I've always loved Dover-they've been around for over ten years-but its their poptastic Follow The City Lights that has sealed their prime position as DontStopthePop's act of 2006 and it was only released some few weeks ago!

Who are Dover I might hear you cry? They were traditionally a rock act that have achieved many a hit album in Spain but it was their slide into pop-disco that knocked out other brilliant Spanish pop acts such as Fangoria to claim the prize of "best -Spanish-act-since-Mecano". They consist of 2 sisters as lead singers(Amparo and Cristina Llanos) and the rather cute-as-buttons boys Jesus Atunez and Samuel Titos. They've been around since 1992 releasing hit after hit but only now have they entered the stratosphere of the Spanish music world. Which is pretty huge considering half of the world practically speak Spanish.

Its rather difficult to describe their sound...I'd say its a wild collision of No Doubt, Alexis Strum, Girls Aloud, The Cardigans and Kelly Clarkson(albiet when she's been remixed by Jason Nevins). Perhaps theres a Blondie touch to the Dover strut. Perhaps not. The lead-off single Let Me Out went to no.1 in the Spanish charts and refused to budge for ages or slip out of the top 5. All of this proved well for the album which also climbed to the top weeks later. Let Me Out is VERY catchy and will have you humming it in your sleep. As a song it has everything every modern pop song really should...A rocky anthemic singalong-style chorus, electropop in the verses, "oh oh oh" as backing vocals, a throwaway "GO!", something vocoder-ish in the middle-8, a building snare backed up by an Eurythmic-lite base guitar and an fake ending. Song of the year? Perhaps! Single of the Year? Yes!!

The album also holds the title of best album of 2006. Yes?! Hear me out. When track 2, Do Ya, contains a sample that sounds ever so similar to the PopJustice theme tune, you know something very special is coming through your speakers. Again, Do Ya is ultra pop-catchy but then comes the track of epic proportions which comes all Madonna/Kylie/Debbie Harry. This is of course the wild Keep On Moving which is so good it hurts and again the chorus contains the all important "Oh Oh Oh" like its some Biblical reference. If Keep On Moving was on either Ta-Dah or Confessions Of A Dancefloor it would be a stand-out track. However Follow The City Lights just gets better and better. Dover hit you hard with Salvation which is nothing but a return to their rock roots, the melancholic You&Me and the dancetastic Tonight. They slow the proceedings just once for a very timely love song to Sir Paul on Dear McCartney. Before you can say uppers, they've slipped into the discorock frenzy ode to their favourite city, Madrid. After you've been given a whirlwind tour of the Spanish capital comes the electrorock Abba-lite track Denial. The last track is a perfect 'come-down' chill-out lounge sing-a-long anthem polemic Shine On Me which gets me thinking of The Ark & Melody Club at their best. You can actually hear the whole album for yourself over at their rather colourful website which has streamed the entire affair. The possibility that you can alter the website in English suggests/hints that there might be some action on these shores in future....

With Follow The City Lights Dover appeared to have wiped out the efforts of Ace of Base, Fangoria, Steps(ah!), BwO, Alcazar, Army Of Lovers and Mecano to be the best/catchiest pop group of our post-modern times since ABBA. So far Let Me Out and its proceeding parent album has only achieved epic status in Spain but they might just make it international. To buy the album click here and to take a gander of their pop video for Let Me Out here.

Words: electropoprock, Blondie, disko, Spain, bubblegum, anthem, Madonna, Kylie, The Cardigans, Mecano, Fangoria, Stefy, The Ark, Melody Club, Nu-pop musik, No Doubt