Album Review: Suede, Antidepressants

Brett Anderson describes Antidepressants as Suede’s “post-punk record”, and he’s not wrong. Sure, the Bowie-isms are still present and correct, but for the most part on this 10th long-player, they’re couched inside heavier arrangements, which owe more of a debt to Joy Division or even Editors than the Thin White Duke.

Kicking off with recent single ‘Disintegrate’, it’s clear this is Suede at their most abrasive, all crashing guitars, plaintive vocals and propulsive percussion. Next up is ‘Dancing With The Europeans’, which is part Interpol, part Bowie, without ever quite hitting the heights of either, Brett even paraphrasing Dylan Thomas in his bid to find “connection is a disconnected world”.

The title track is similarly discordant, like an Editors b-side that only partly works, while ‘Criminal Ways’ and ‘Trance State’ are indie by numbers.

They’re much better when they stick to the catchier guitar pop they’ve made a career from, like the purposeful sway and shimmy of ‘Sweet Kid’, the anthemic ‘The Sound And The Summer’, and the Bowie-esque ballad, ‘June Rain’. The catchy ‘Broken Music For Broken People’, meanwhile, could be a theme for the album, all spiralling guitars and heroic optimism.

Overall, a mixed bag that doesn’t always work.

6.5/10