Doves surprise fans and themselves by releasing a presumed lost track from their studio archive, bringing the soaring “Spirit Of Your Friend“ out of the shadows of fan forum rumors and into the light. Added to the track listing of their upcoming and overdue ‘Best Of…’ compilation, So, Here We Are: Best Of Doves, out now, the discovery concludes a 20-year journey for the song from inception to recent completion.
Having released their sixth studio album, Constellations For The Lonely, earlier this year and resumed touring, a commitment which continues across a further six UK live dates this December, Doves’ 2025 has seen the band embrace an aspirational future alongside reflections on the past. “Spirit Of Your Friend” joins the band’s extensive catalogue of stirring, routinely epic studies on the human condition, settling into a meticulously compiled running order of certified indie playlist hits and deeper cuts of windswept, cinematic noir.
“Spirit Of Your Friend” was found filed alongside other songs which made the cut for the band’s 2009 UK No.2-charting album, Kingdom Of Rust, represented on the So, Here We Are… compilation by the inclusion of its title track. Notably the first track to ever be recorded at their famed, much-missed Frank Bough III Studio in Cheshire, and with recognisable vocals provided by co-founder, bassist and vocalist, Jimi Goodwin, the band needed little convincing of its value as a late addition to the compilation following some recent finishing touches.
Multi-instrumentalist and current live front man, Jez Williams says: “I had a bad dose of writer’s block way back in 2005 and turned to the music immersion method to dig myself out. ‘Spirit Of Your Friend’ was born out of that and, at the heart of it, my aim was to bring out a sense of yearning, really amp that up both musically and lyrically. We were really surprised to find it before getting to work on pulling together the compilation’s running order, but it needed more work to get it down from its original seven minutes. It’s about friends we have lost and those we’re grateful are still with us.”
