Having never been a fan of Suede or Anderson, I judged that this album would be crap from the get-go.
Couple this with several condemning reviews from esteemed magazines and websites, and I was almost swayed. But to be honest, it’s not that bad. I feel that the problem most people would have with this album is that it isn’t a far cry from Suede anyway.
Anderson doesn’t really add or take away from the formulae he and his previous band stood by and it serves, for the most part, as a repetition of history.
However, this would still understandably dissuade people from enjoying the album. There is a bare minimum of creativity in the guitar playing (taking Intimacy as an example) and the album almost entirely discards the reasons we may have enjoyed Suede in the first place – the dynamic, upbeat songs that made it as hit singles.
Where these types of songs have been removed, string quartet accentuation takes place instead. While this is far from a bad thing, it just fails to get the blood flowing or create excitement.
This then, makes Brett Anderson’s album background music that doesn’t really garner much attention throughout. Nothing really stands out, which leaves the overtone of each song rather depressing.
It’s very unfortunate, because you can hear potential lying underneath each song. You almost beg for a little bit of distortion and power chord abuse, but it never comes.
While Anderson’s intention may have been to make a downbeat record in comparison to his earlier work, he shouldn’t have neglected the power of a hit single.
The lack of a song worthy of entering the charts leaves the listener disappointed with nothing to wake them up and make them think “I could listen to this song over and over again.” You’re left waiting for a rock song to kick you in the groin, but it just doesn’t arrive.
