Album Review: Suede - Bloodsports
BY İDİL DAMLA BİNGÖL (IE/IV)
Think 1992 -- probably (like me) you don't remember, but we all know that in those years grunge was living its golden age in the USA. But in the UK, the scene was about to change. A new band, even before releasing a debut album, would change the whole course of Britpop. As Consequence of Sound narrates, Suede -- "androgynous glam rockers with a taste for huge hooks, pop ingenuity and mutinous inter-band drama" -- created a new face for Britpop (along with Blur and others). Twenty years after their debut, Suede have released a sixth album: "Bloodsports."
After all the dramas the band went through in its early years, and a short but bright period of fame, an all-grown-up Suede have finally returned with a new album to prove that frontman Brett Anderson has lost nothing from his talent, charisma and songwriting skills. "Bloodsports" is living and successful proof of all this. Pitchfork describes the album's themes in this way: "As the wide-eyed romanticism heard in the album's opening stretch gives way to a vicious cycle of emotional dependency, betrayal, and predatory, restraining-order-worthy behavior, the band respond with their weightiest, most calamitous music since side two of 1994's darkly epic 'Dog Man Star.'" Pitchfork also notes that Anderson does not show relationships from a one-dimensional point of view; he shows them from all sides and with all feelings, and also with very graceful lyrics, such as "Let me take you through each stage of the male mistake / And we'll adopt our natural roles."
While "Bloodsports" offers romantic observations by Anderson similar to those in 1994's "Dog Man Star," it doesn't show the influence of drugs, and the presence of surreal themes resulting from them seems to have decreased. Nonetheless, the band's signature sound and themes are preserved, and I can say that "Bloodsports" has the 90s Suede sound, but in a fresh way. It doesn't give the feeling of a band reuniting just for the money.
The last four tracks on the album are darker than the first six. The general construction of the songs changes, and the themes get darker. In "What Are You Not Telling Me?," Anderson asks a question that probably has a painful answer, and in "Sometimes I Feel I'll Float Away" he shares the bitterness of a one-sided love, yet closes the melancholy song with a bright, powerful ending. The tracks I like best are mostly among the first six. Along with the album's impressive intro, "Sabotage," "Snowblind" and -- thanks to the perfect ending -- "Sometimes I Feel I'll Float Away" are my favorites.
Twenty years after their debut, Suede have shown us that they can make an impression on new generations of listeners, that they aren't done yet and there's more to come. "Bloodsports" doesn't betray Suede's legacy, but it's still different, and in a more grown-up way, it's very impressive.
This Week's Songs:
Here's your weekly list -- enjoy.
1. Laura Mvula - That's Alright
Laura Mvula, who was in the BBC's Sound of 2013 and a nominee for Brit Awards Critics' Choice, released her debut album this month.
2. ColeCo - Things Ain't the Same
ColeCo are a live disco house production duo from Toronto, Canada, and this is their new single, released this month.
3. Para One - Every Little Thing (ft. Irfane and Teki Latex; Plastic Plates Remix)
This song was on the list last week. With the Plastic Plates remix, it just had to be included again this week.
4. Juveniles - Strangers (Jupiter Remix)
Juveniles is a French synthpop duo, and this is a remix of their song "Strangers" by Jupiter, another French band.
5. CHVRCHES - Recover (Curxes' 1996 Remix)
A remix of CHURCHES' “Recover” by Curxes, a blitz-pop band (in their
own words) from England.