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Jan 22, 2016 Suede By Aug Stone

There’s a feature film to accompany Night Thoughts and the record seems conceived with this in mind. It’s given a theme by being bookended with “When You Are Young” and “When You Were Young” (with “The Fur & The Feathers” acting as a coda). It’s not that these songs are weak but when it comes to cinematic, we know what Suede are capable of- “Still Life,” “The 2 of Us,” “The Next Life,” even “Seascape”-and these new songs are none of those. As last album Bloodsports was the meeting place between classics Dog Man Star and Coming Up, Night Thoughts too harkens back to that time. And here it’s as if the narrator of “Stay Together” (that great single between albums and line-ups) decided that the fantasy was preferable and so, instead of heading to the rendezvous with his intended, decided to disappear into the opium projections inside his own head. This, as the title implies, is music of the night. But not the way Suede have presented it before—in beautiful desolation, or beautiful desolation glammed-, pilled-, and sexed-up. This is haunting; the black and blue shadows of a new territory.

Once past the opener, “Outsiders” and “No Tomorrow” are two of the better songs on the album. Both indulge a post-punk influence that has never been so strong in Suede, though it’s obviously from the catchier side of that genre. The poppy “Tightrope” and “Like Kids” also catch the ear on first listen. These two recall, and would easily have been the best songs on, A New Morning. But it’s “Pale Snow” and “Learning to Be” that take us furthest in this listening experience. These two dark, sparse ballads ground us; they’re the Suede we know and love calling to us through the mists of this parallel twilight where they’re setting up camp. One hopes further listens will reveal the rest of the songs somehow doing the same. (www.suede.co.uk)

Author rating: 5.5/10