Written by: Jen Dan
The long-standing dramatic, filmic, British, gritty glam rock/pop band Suede is back with its 7th studio album, Night Thoughts, following a triumphant return in 2013 after a decade’s absence from the music scene. Brett Anderson, Matt Osman, Simon Gilbert, Richard Oakes, and Neil Codling released the highly accomplished and accoladed Bloodsports and it sounded like Suede had never left off recording vital and tuneful material.
And now Night Thoughts has arrived like a cinematic gift of brash alt-rock to symphonic pop to austere ruminations, all tied together by frontman Anderson’s vividly emotive and precisely modulated vocal delivery. At turns rousing, brooding, fragile, and intense, Night Thoughts showcases a band at the peak (or at least another peak!) of its powers, vocally, instrumentally, and lyrics-wise. The album is accompanied by a film that mirrors the emotional restlessness of reminiscing about one’s past, integral relationships, and self and of questioning one’s very existence.
The most life-affirming and dynamic song from the album, “Outsiders”, revives and rallies the listener from the start with a searing guitar line, thrummed bass reverberation, and emphatic drum beat. Taking on the role of omniscient narrator, Anderson sing-talks in a sharply etched tone about a couple who are “…playing the hand they play / Caught in the game they made.” The chorus rises like sweeping tide with an expressive Anderson exclaiming with bright yearning “She puts her faith in the moment / Outsiders / He puts his faith in the moment / Outsiders.” amid the heightened turmoil of ringing guitar lines, stirring synths, deepening bass line, and relentless drum beat.
