If ever Indie bands formed themselves into a football team, The Doves would be the reliable left-back.
The fans' favourite who never quite manages to make headline news on the back pages.
While the crowd goes wild for Pete Doherty, the gobby, confrontational centre-forward and silky foreign playmaker The Killers, the Manchester three-piece would be content with a metaphorical pat on the back and "well done" from the gaffer.
Well into a career forged in the early-Nineties' dance scene, The Doves have established themselves with three albums of dependably high quality.
Their background in beats and filling dance floors has given them a unique selling point which stands them above most other guitar bands.
Tracks such as Pounding and new single Black And White Town would always be good but The Doves' sense of rhythm makes them brilliant.
When they slow things down into Now That's What Doves Call Chillout, frontman Jimi Goodwin and guitarist Jez Williams turn from two hairy blokes you wouldn't trust to patio your garden into a couple of choirboys.
And when all these elements come together for the climatic and fantastic There Goes The Fear, it's as if your favourite left-back has just scored a hat-trick.
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