Suede:
Night Thoughts:
Warner Music:
LP/DD/CD:
Out Now:
After an eleven year hiatus, 2013's Bloodsports signalled Suede's return with a shout, rather than a bang or a whimper. Their seventh album is far more assured and a portentous statement right from the off - the strings at the beginning of When You Are Young sound distinctly Morricone or Gorecki-esque, ushering in what is one of the band's greatest opening tracks for some time.
And it doesn't stop there. The Outsiders and No Tomorrow are the usual impeachable Brett-powered belters, while the ethereal Pale Snow displays a somewhat chilly, even filmic, side to Suede's oeuvre a la Agnes Obel before another epic, I Don't Know How To Reach You, roars in.
For a hint as to where you're heading as a listener, look at the sleeve - dreamlike, oceanic, still, in stasis and an artwork most surely influenced by the iconic sleeve housing Bill Evan's Undercurrents album.
Still, Night Thoughts wouldn't be a Suede album without a throwaway tune and what I'm trying to tell you is What I'm Trying To Tell You is that track. It isn't a stinker by any means but after the huge bombast of the first half and knowing what is to follow, WITTY falls short and just doesn't fit in. It's a non-album single in all but reality.
Far better is Tightrope and another haunting interlude Learning To Be which goes all This Mortal Coil on us in places with samples of kids' dialogue and a John Barry-like coda throughout. The remainder of the album's songs are conjoined, making Night Thoughts part 2 something of a journey, an odyssey without being a concept as such. The latter half certainly demands intent listening but is no less entertaining for all its puffed-up arrangements on the closing The Fur and the Feathers.
Suede have quietly steered their comeback ship through potentially choppy waters in recent years and fair play to them - that break did them some good. Anderson and co can be reassured that the other-worldly and cinematic Night Thoughts, with its accompanying visuals and faultless running order, is a solid effort and one to be proud of.
SUEDE - NIGHT THOUGHTS - ★★★★★★★★☆☆
Night Thoughts:
Warner Music:
LP/DD/CD:
Out Now:
And it doesn't stop there. The Outsiders and No Tomorrow are the usual impeachable Brett-powered belters, while the ethereal Pale Snow displays a somewhat chilly, even filmic, side to Suede's oeuvre a la Agnes Obel before another epic, I Don't Know How To Reach You, roars in.
For a hint as to where you're heading as a listener, look at the sleeve - dreamlike, oceanic, still, in stasis and an artwork most surely influenced by the iconic sleeve housing Bill Evan's Undercurrents album.
Still, Night Thoughts wouldn't be a Suede album without a throwaway tune and what I'm trying to tell you is What I'm Trying To Tell You is that track. It isn't a stinker by any means but after the huge bombast of the first half and knowing what is to follow, WITTY falls short and just doesn't fit in. It's a non-album single in all but reality.
Far better is Tightrope and another haunting interlude Learning To Be which goes all This Mortal Coil on us in places with samples of kids' dialogue and a John Barry-like coda throughout. The remainder of the album's songs are conjoined, making Night Thoughts part 2 something of a journey, an odyssey without being a concept as such. The latter half certainly demands intent listening but is no less entertaining for all its puffed-up arrangements on the closing The Fur and the Feathers.
Suede have quietly steered their comeback ship through potentially choppy waters in recent years and fair play to them - that break did them some good. Anderson and co can be reassured that the other-worldly and cinematic Night Thoughts, with its accompanying visuals and faultless running order, is a solid effort and one to be proud of.
SUEDE - NIGHT THOUGHTS - ★★★★★★★★☆☆