Pathos and decadence have been the main ingredients since the early nineties with which singer Brett Anderson and his band Suede gained their own place in Britpop. With his haunted and whiney voice and lyrics full of dark drug poetry and dandyism, he reached a peak on the 1994 album Dog Man Star. After the more preserved 2002 A New Morning, Suede fell apart and after a duo record with the original
… Suede guitarist Bernard Butler under the name The Tears, this is his first real solo album. This one offers few surprises. In the opening track Love Is Dead, Anderson has always cried that nobody loves him, supported by exciting, dark-colored strings. Songs like Intimacy and Rain And Dust can even rank among the better Suede songs with their biting guitar parts and decadent undertone. In more subdued songs such as To The Winter and Song For My Father (for his late father) Anderson eventually reveals himself completely, fully justifying his own name as the bearer of this strong album. (MR)more
