Brett Anderson: Slow Attack

As with last year’s enchanting “Wilderness”, the pop hooks and sleek guitar solos of Andersons Suede days are shelved in favour of more pastoral piano and cello pieces with slight orchestration. Anderson’s instantly recognisable voice fits beautifully with this delicate chamber pop and songs like “The Hunted” and “Julian’s Eyes” perfectly demonstrate how successful it can be. However, for me, the album as a whole falls slightly short of its predecessor.

Brett Anderson: Wilderness

The sticker on the album cover, familiar to many CDs these days, proclaims the usual 5 star reviews and single word superlatives for the new album from Suede’s frontman Bret Anderson. But curiously I did not recognise the obscure musical journals quoted as the source for these rave reviews. I suspect that this is because all the reviews I have read for the album in the popular music press have been far less favourable, causing the record company to cast their net a bit wider in their search for a positive review to stick on the cover. Well I’d have been happy to oblige as I rather enjoyed these solemn piano led songs accompanied by Cello and acoustic guitar. Perhaps I could write the review sticker for his next album, how about “***** Ticketyboo, Crispian’s Album Reviews”