Sleeping With Ghosts

While they weren’t exactly Britpop material, Placebo rode the wave of guitar bands in the mid-nineties as much as anyone else. Such has been their silence of late that it would not have been unreasonable to assume that they had gone the way of many of their contemporaries, fading like a perverted goth Shed Seven.

Sleeping With Ghosts surprises, however, not just by its very existence, but with the sense of energy and purpose that stampedes through the album. The basic premise remains largely untouched (and, try as they might, Placebo will always sound like Placebo), yet there are encouraging signs that their vision has broadened slightly.

‘English Summer Rain’ could almost be New Order, from the subtle electronic backing to the daft lyrics – “always stays the same, nothing ever changes, English summer rain seems to last for ages” – while there’s a tenderness to the title track, ‘Special Needs’, and the closing piano ballad, ‘Centrefolds’, that it would have been impossible to imagine in those days of leaving a trail of blood and semen across the country.

We may never have realised that we missed Placebo, but it’s still damn good to have them back.