Doves’ Jez Williams talks debut solo album ‘Life Of Me And You’: “It feels like destiny is coming to its starting point”

Doves ‘ Jez Williams has spoken to NME about this “real labour of love” debut solo album ‘Life Of Me And You’ and plans for the future.

Check out details along with the groove-driven single ‘Hollow Man’ below.

Due for release on Friday February 26, 2027, ‘Life Of Me And You’ is the guitarist’s first record released under his own name away from Manchester indie royalty Doves, Sub Sub, and Black Rivers, the band he formed in 2012 with his twin brother and bandmate Andy Williams.

It also follows the Williams brothers stepping into the roles of frontmen for all tour dates after 2024’s acclaimed ‘ Constellations For The Lonely ‘ after Jimi Goodwin stepped back from the road to focus on his mental health.

Described as “a deeply introspective and musically adventurous album influenced by Lou Reed, UFOs, sassy ’60s pop stars, Balearic chill and ‘slow disco'”, the record comes teased by the AC/DC meets glam psych stomp of ‘Hollow Man’ – a song inspired by the “tsunamis of information” in this digital age of “too much information, too many opinions, too much, change coming from all angles”.

“I’ve been chipping away at this album in between Doves albums and tours, so it’s been a real labour of love,” Williams told NME .

“I really like expressing myself in a different way.

I mean, I can do the psych-melancholy listeners might expect of me and Doves all day long, but I just wanted to go into a different space.

“I wanted to make something that was very personal to me that other people would enjoy and identify with, so I needed to do this solo album for me.

It’s kind of like I didn’t have a choice.

I just had to do it.

I had to get it out of my system, and I’m very proud of it.” Check out the rest of our interview with Williams below, where he also opened up about album inspiration, his debut solo performances supporting Elbow in Manchester to celebrate ‘Asleep In The Back ‘, and what the future holds for Doves.

NME : Hello Jez.

How does it feel to have made something under your own name without Jimi or Andy? Jez Williams : “Yeah, it feels great.