Brett Anderson
Wilderness

THE REVIEW

There are a lot of reasons that push me to review this not-so-successful second solo work by the former frontman of the unforgettable Suede. Let me list them:

1) The review of the first eponymous album here on debaser is, in my opinion, unfair. The album was one of my favorites when it came out. In a certain way, I would like to redeem the figure of an artist who has been able to solo create remarkable works.

2) Sometimes I feel the need to have/listen to minimalist, embryonic albums like "Wilderness". This is because, when done right, a piece with just guitar, piano, and little else is able to convey and evoke emotion like few others.

3) Brett's voice remains one of the most beautiful discoveries of the nineties for me.

4) This album, despite some embarrassing drops in tone (the inconclusive "the empress") and a few major errors (choosing to have the splendid "Back to you" reinterpreted by Emanuelle Seigner and her approximate English) is honest, even in its brevity, a scant thirty-two minutes, and contains some nice tracks: "a different place" and "Clowns", for example.

5) Brett Anderson has never been arrogant. Even when he preempted the Britpop scene with "Suede" in '93.

6) "Back to you", in its b-side version on the first album, is one of the most beautiful songs ever written.

7) Brett Anderson represents that Englishness in music that is gradually being lost and that after Bowie-Morrissey, today doesn't see beyond him, other representatives.

8) I saw three reviews of the new U2 album all at once and it pissed me off.

The brevity of the writing suits the album's duration. The album is a two-and-a-half. I'll round it up to three.

May I?