Suede – Antidepressants Reviewed: Britpop outsiders’ second coming continues to thrill

Suede - Antidepressants

★★★★★

BMG

The story of Suede has never been one of steady linear progression, but even so, 2022’s Autofiction sent their needles zigzagging all over the charts, a tectonic reboot that shifted the direction of their already impressive comeback era.

Antidepressants plugs into similar post-punk energies – Killing Joke, The Chameleons, The Cure – but as the PiL-like title track’s untethered jolt and jeer shows, Suede’s emotional safety catches and musical circuit breakers are very much off. Through a background chatter of mechanised voices, Brett Anderson cuts through sharper and stranger than ever, rallying damaged troops on Broken Music For Broken People, seeking connection on the euphoric fugue of Dancing With The Europeans, facing down the void on Life Is Endless, Life Is A Moment.

“You will never be blithe and careless,” he states on Disintegrate’s skull-shaped call-to-arms, but this defiant, death-defying record – as much joyride as memento mori – is the glorious reward.

Antidepressants in out September 5 on BMG

ORDER: Amazon | Rough Trade | HMV

Track Listing:

Standard Format
1. Disintegrate
2. Dancing With The Europeans
3. Antidepressants
4. Sweet Kid
5. The Sound And The Summer
6. Somewhere Between An Atom And A Star
7. Broken Music For Broken People
8. Criminal Ways
9. Trance State
10. June Rain
11. Life Is Endless, Life Is A Moment 

Deluxe Formats
1. Disintegrate
2. Dancing With The Europeans
3. Antidepressants
4. Sweet Kid
5. The Sound And The Summer
6. Somewhere Between An Atom And A Star
7. Broken Music For Broken People
8. Criminal Ways
9. Trance State
10. June Rain
11. Life Is Endless, Life Is A Moment
12. Dirty Looks
13. Sharpening Knives
14. Overload

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Photo: Suede shot for MOJO exclusively by Kevin Westenberg