Suede
The Blue Hour

"Suede must be unpleasant"

The secret of this new "The Blue Hour" is all contained in this phrase by frontman Brett Anderson, which obviously has a much different interpretation than one might infer at a first superficial reading. It's now clear that the goal of this reunion (arriving at the third studio test, eighth overall) is not to merely subsist or weakly replicate already explored musical themes, but to continue pushing the boundaries of a band that has qualitatively returned to playing a role of absolute protagonist, despite having been declared dead twice (after Bernard Butler's departure and after the 2003 breakup).

"The Blue Hour" is a splendid album and certainly the best Suede work since the undisputed masterpiece "Dog Man Star"; it even surpasses the beautiful "Night Thoughts" from two years ago, resulting in being more complete and less monotonous, without losing an ounce of cohesion.

To highlight that sense of "unpleasantness" suggested by Anderson himself, the five Londoners choose a more challenging setting for many of the album’s tracks: the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra enhances many of the more challenging tracks, starting with the opener "As One" (between Gregorian chants and sudden intrusions of the splendid guitar of a Richard Oakes in excellent form, alongside an Anderson practically in perfect vocal shape), moving on to the lead single "The Invisibles" (a kind of new "Still Life" for the 2010s).

Speaking of Oakes, who sounds more inspired than ever and contributes with some of the best riffs of his career, turning "Wastelands" into a future classic for the band and letting loose in "Cold Hands" which goes so far as to recover the britpop triumphs of "Coming Up"; not to mention the bridge of the superb "Beyond The Outskirts", biting nearly to the incisiveness of the earliest Muse.

Elsewhere there are concessions to the more immediate epicness that has characterized Suede in their best moments, exhaustively illustrated in this sense by the big single "Life Is Golden" (perhaps the most stadium rock thing Suede has ever created, especially in the chorus shouted at the sky) and the heartfelt tribute to Bowie in "All The Wild Places". However, the masterpiece of the record comes with the concluding "Flytipping", almost seven minutes of instrumental digressions and sudden changes of pace that sound like the closing of a circle (this album is considered by the band as the last of the post-reunion trilogy).

Suede thus definitively returns to the highest levels, and they do so with a beautiful and fundamentally flawless album (painlessly including the change in production, moving from the trusted Ed Buller to the experienced Alan Moulder, assisted by keyboardist Neil Codling).

It's hard to think of doing better than this.

Best track: Flytipping