by Nolan Conghaile
The London Suede have always known that the heart of their art isn’t nostalgia but exploration. Antidepressants, their eleventh album, continues that journey by chasing the ghosts of Dog Man Star and building on the anthemic highs of Coming Up, and distilling that into a new collection of tunes. Building on what Brett Anderson has always done best, which is pairing fearless songwriting with a vocal delivery. For fans of The London Suede, this record feels like a compelling form of focused investigation.
The album opens with “Disintegrate.” Songwriting-wise, it’s skeletal in nature with its short phrases about mortality and collapse, wrapped in today’s production that underlines the unease. Anderson’s voice embodies the paranoia in his phrasing. The writing expands with the unforgettable refrain of “European stain… European suffering” in the song “Dancing With the Europeans.” It’s an anthem that has the vocals sitting in the mix in a manner that allows it to be the guiding instrument and another layer of emotion.
The title track is clever lyrically and leans into the irony of music as medicine, solace in sound. The chorus is pop-shaped, and Anderson sings it clean with the band supporting in spades. “Sweet Kid” is one of the album’s more tender songs; its writing recalls Suede’s knack for pairing melody with ache. The instruments cradle Anderson’s vocal, a study in how melody redeems simplicity and how vocal tone shapes meaning.
Thematically, “Broken Music for Broken People” ties to the band’s history of broken outsiders finding solace in sound. The chorus is affecting in its impassioned emotional pull. There’s a deliberate art in how repetition works here; producers know that not polishing the edges makes the story stronger. “Trance State” also explores mantra-like passages. Suede is not afraid to explore stylized textures, even when it clouds narrative clarity.
“June Rain” is Suede at their cinematic best. The lyric “So I close my eyes and walk into the traffic flow” is devastating in its bluntness. As if to answer, “Life Is Endless, Life Is a Moment” has lyrics that fold time into paradox with repetition. The songwriting circles are hypnotic, like a cycle.
Antidepressants is an exploration of how to shape emotional fracture into melodic and lyrical form. The band is direct when it needs to be, poetic when it dares to be. They explore new dynamics and timbre, which should not surprise anyone; they always do. The London Suede don’t simply revisit their past; they wrestle with the present, gifting us an album that shows exactly how words and voice, when aligned, can quickly become a part of the soundtrack of our lives.
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