and so Suede (or The London Suede, if American) have a new album out. their tenth in a career spanning (on and off and on, look you see) north of 30 years. for some reason they struggled with a title for this one, with them early days (wisely) dismissing "X" as a crap name for a record. so they have gone with a somewhat straightforward choice of Antidepressants, which is also kind of weird as it is the first time ever that one of their albums has been named after one of the songs on it.
should you be seeking some form of unbiased, "critical" review of Antidepressants off of Suede then this is probably not what you are looking for. whereas no, it is not so that everything the band has done has been brilliant, it's not too far off being that for me. i can try to be "fair" but shall likely fail. and it is not like failure is ever too far away from all i do.
that said, mind, whilst Antidepressants is excellent, it is perhaps not as immediately "woah, genius" as a couple of their other releases this century. specifically Night Thoughts being a masterpiece and the more recent Autofiction being an album that just grows in stature and excellence the more you play it. getting close to the immediate impact them two had is, in itself, quite the triumph.
my instinct, or if you will tendency, would be to say here just go and play the album, preferably via means of "physical media". that would be all the more true with the lavish, meticulous packaging that they have gone done for it. but, since we are here, i will try and write some mildly decent stuff. i do worry so about my lack of ability to convey praise for that what i worship in words.
if left to the band to describe the record, well, they have said that this is their "post punk" album to the "punk" album they see Autofiction as being. not sure i agree with either definition, but far be it from me to question either the creators or those vastly more talented than moi. certainly there's a (quite) hard edge to some of the songs here. ultimately i guess it depends on what you define as "punk" or "post punk" really.
apparently i ordered the deluxe edition of the CD and the (proper, actual) tape early enough to qualify for the most splendid signed A4 pic of the band, which is lovely. yes, like a few things i have, do need to get this framed and on display, despite a lack of visitors to my place of exile. as far as i can recall i have a few things signed by Brett off of his solo material, but nothing of the whole band.
favourite track off of the album? well, as i write this the record is on play six (or seven) and nothing is getting skipped. i am cautious about ever saying "the first song is the best", but still, huge wow factor on the opening track Disintegrate. starts off with Mat Osman going "hey check out what i can do with a bass", then the rest of the band do their thing and grab you and do not let go. one quibble is that the lyrics in the booklet say the one line is "come down and disintegrate with me", which is a shame. ever since i got the "single" (digital download when you ordered the album) i have been singing along as "calm down and disintegrate with me". they missed a trick there, for what i heard would be the single most eccentric English way of doing things line from Brett yet, which is saying something.
no matter how convenient (and cheap) streaming is, absolutely nothing shall replace the tactile sensation of holding an album in your hands. above is the "deluxe" CD (with the tape at the top), with the contents being the disc, a booklet with liner notes (and lyrics), stickers of the artwork (indeed based on a famous Francis Bacon painting and photo of said artist), an insert of the artwork signed by the band and another booklet of variations of images of the cover. the band care about the quality of the product, they care about the fan experience. shove your streaming.
to the titular track (yes, alliteration fans, i shall take a bow) and the "proper" studio version of Antidepressants took me somewhat by surprise. i was one of those fortunate enough to hear the song, twice, last year when the band did the ace joint tour with the Manics, and then again recently when a recording of the song from one of the gigs i was at was put out on a promo disc. whilst it is very much the same song it sounds.....different. generally i am loathe to draw comparisons, but on this studio version, with particular emphasis on the vocal delivery, i got a very big sense of the Buzzcocks from it. and that is (very much) meant complimentary. if Buzzcocks fall within the remit of "post punk", well, that's me told isn't it, the description from the band is correct.
yes, i bought the tape. the pic above (and below) are what you get, since some shall have purchased it but declined to open it. when my favourites release an album on tape i will, more often than not, go ahead and buy it. can't quite fathom the "revival" of tapes, but i am glad for it. i hold a deep rooted, emotional, perhaps existence, bond with tapes that i simply can't or possibly won't ever try to explain.
quite a few tapes issued over the last, what, ten or so years have been (to be honest) awful. poor quality ones shoved in a cardboard slipcase and blatantly made to just sell to people like me. in this instance it is so that Suede absolutely have not p!ssed about, but have gone done it proper. these pics don't do it justice, but that cover isn't a cover, it is a sleek, black embossed case. also an insert. bravo and thanks.
if there's a song that took me by surprise then it's Broken Music For Broken People. when i first saw the title (used as some of the branding for when the album was launched) it made immediate sense, for if we are honest that's the unspoken banner, or statement, which the band have waved for all these years. despite not being sure exactly what kind of song it would be, the quasi pop, faster beat tempo caught me slightly off guard. wasn't entirely sure i liked it at first, but once i found its groove, or if you will narrative, it feels like a natural, if quasi, follow up to Trash or, to a lesser ("fewer") extent, Beautiful Ones. not a "sequel" or "where are those people now", just existing in the same transience.
suggesting a sense of nihilism pervades a bit of the album is possibly inaccurate, as it's not all that dark. yet there's a fair bit of delving into loss, specifically loss in the form of death. three (3) songs in particular are relevant here, Somewhere Between An Atom And A Star, the exceptional June Rain and the album closer (excluding bonus tracks) Life Is Endless, Life Is A Moment. honestly at some points listening to these songs i briefly entertained the possibility that Brett Anderson was "doing a Bowie" and feared some of this was all going a bit like his very own Blackstar. i trust not.
going surprisingly linear, or if you will non non-linear, and for some reason i get a bigger "vibe" of a Bowie influence on lyrical flow here than on any other Suede (or Brett solo record) record i can think of. certain phrases (inexplicably "videophone") and flows to words just on some level sound like something what Bowie might have gone done. well, as i recall it, Suede first turned up on my radar, or t least i elected to pay attention to them, when NME did a comprehensive joint interview thing with Bowie and Brett. i wonder if it is online anywhere.
much like Autofiction, this album has been released as summer ebbs away in favour of autumn, plus a tour to support it has been announced for the new year (yes, of course, in answer to that question). for the former, and i really needed this album now, its ethos, what it's saying, even if i haven't expressed what it is saying or i simply can't define it. for some reason i have been more affected - flat out saddened - by the days getting progressively shorter than usual. if it isn't quite rage, rage against the dying of the light stuff, it's a bold, stark reminder to remain defiant.
no idea at all, at this stage, if this one shall "grow" in whatever sense as remains the seemingly perpetual case with Autofiction. certainly this is not an album that will just get played a whole lot in this immediate era of its release and then discarded. quite likely this one shall remain fairly close to the stereo for a while, perhaps all the way up to their next record.
right, that shall do. not sure i have either "explained" or "sold" the album, but that's not what i am here for. as per the earlier comment, all i can say for certainty is that this is a record you should totes go and listen to.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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