Suede - new album: 'Autofiction'

I haven't listened to the album yet as I am hoping my CD and EP will appear tomorrow. It seems to have been well received though.

They sent through an email link (well they sent two email links, one of which was to Altered Images' album) offering a pound off the deluxe digital album with one exclusive bonus track. Hmm...
 
I’ve played it once, it sounds pretty steadfast but I’ll need return visits for it to sink in. There is a fair bit of bluster on the record but I wouldn’t call it a punk record, it’s not spiky enough.
 
FetchFugly said:
They sent through an email link (well they sent two email links, one of which was to Altered Images' album) offering a pound off the deluxe digital album with one exclusive bonus track. Hmm...
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Aye, I got that too. Bit cheeky, eh?
 
Have listend several times now and it sounds really good.. as with all recent Suede it gets better with each listen and the singles sound SO MUCH BETTER in the context of the album. Current early favourite is Shadow Self but there’s not one single track I dislike. I’m thinking of getting tickets to their Paris Show now..
 
My bundle arrived as well - clear vinyl LP, CD and a 12" of "She Still Leads Me On". Everything certainly looks great. the 12" is in a proper spined sleeve and has a barcode, suggesting there may have been plans to sell it separately. I'm not quite up for a punky assault due to a slightly fuzzy head (!) so I will return to this for a listen a wee bit later.
 
octophone said:
Aye, I got that too. Bit cheeky, eh?
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They are certainly not alone with this kind of thing these days (and they are on BMG for this album, who could write the book on these strategies/antics) but it does grate. Especially having just bought a bundle with a t-shirt just to get three other bonus tracks on the EP...
 
Anyway, I have given both the album and EP a couple of listens and I am impressed. Very good top to bottom.

It is more urgent and raw sounding, but there are still very Suede epic moments. Also loving Shadow Self (a bit of early eighties goth gloom), as well as the big ballad Drive Myself Home and The Only Way I Can Love You, which is very much in a classic Suede style.
 
This is an interesting interview:

https://thequietus.com/articles/320...uzgsyyzX1pxhob6P4Mh_ZMyQaGjUE_iO9394IShCHQ67k

On the next album:

: That's going to be the next one, the complete opposite of this. We've already written most of it. It's going to be the most abstract record we've made, with much less form to it, so not conventional song structures. Songs that are just woven together, there are lots of instrumental sections and things like that. The way I look at is if you're in this game for the long term you've got to keep moving to places in order to come back from them. Making Autofiction gives us the right to make something odder which then gives us the right to swing backwards and forwards. At the end of the day we're a working band and we've got to make a living out of it, and you can't go too far leftfield. I don't know why, I don't think Suede are allowed to go leftfield, we're not like Radiohead, the press won't give us that license.
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to be honest they shouldn’t care about the press at all right now, and in a way that is exactly what holds them back from making their ‘Heroes’ or ‘Scary Monsters’ .. I love Suede but they literally could ( and should!!) be as big as Radiohead .. I don’t think Thom Yorke really cares about what the press thinks of them
 
On 2 listens, the best album of Phase 2 and their best since Coming Up. Taut but free, caustic but tender - Suede have always had a knack for being a musical contradiction in terms right from the grubby glamour of the debut. it doesn't really sound like any other album they've made except maybe Bloodsports but the songs are vastly better and Oakes is on tremendous form. A real joy to have them sounding so fresh and so fired-up.
 
Had another spin - this is bedding in very nicely. Oakes absolutely owns this album, what a musician.
 
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octophone said:
Had another spin - this is bedding in very nicely. Oakes absolutely owns this album, what a musician.
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They did the Tim Burgess listening party thing, an interesting read through.




It was also mentioned that Turn Off Your Brain and Yell was a late substitution, pulled from material in consideration for the next album.
 
Still enjoying this album but have also been dabbling in the extensive bonus tracks from the Bloodsports era, as well as this extra from The Blue Hour, which foreshadows Autofiction somewhat:



I know it is a launch show for the new album but I really hope they keep Life is Golden in the setlist. There probably would be tears...
 
listening to this every day and its still getting better every time .. it’s now become for me their best album since Dog Man Star ! They’re also getting the best reviews of their career (80% on AOTY) which is incredible at this point in their career, and considering most of us had given up after A New Morning.
 
They've added the three songs from the 12" to the download on the Suede store. At £3.99, I jumped for it for the (rather lovely) bonus track and a bit of convenience but ultimately, the buggers got 3 sales out of me.
 
FetchFugly said:
They should have done that from the get go.
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Yeah, it seems to have been driven by fan feedback which is a good thing but it also smacks of making the bundle a bit better so as to skim a few more sales. It's not like they're fleecing us at £4.99 (a quid off if you bought something from the online store) but it's a little odd.
 
octophone said:
They've added the three songs from the 12" to the download on the Suede store. At £3.99, I jumped for it for the (rather lovely) bonus track and a bit of convenience but ultimately, the buggers got 3 sales out of me.
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I’d do this too but don’t trust myself with finding where it would be hiding on my phone after downloading.
 
They were ridiculously good last night and the new album sounded excellent. Drive Myself Home was a bit of a moment.

Also very pleased as we got Life is Golden and Animal Nitrate in the second half, which they didn't on the first night.
 
I do hope this isn't how they're planning to do the tour tho' - Autofiction in full in order, then a GH set. I hope they'll mix it all up.
 
octophone said:
I do hope this isn't how they're planning to do the tour tho' - Autofiction in full in order, then a GH set. I hope they'll mix it all up.
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Oh I'm sure they wouldn't do that for bigger shows on a proper tour.
 
I can't see that The Only Way I Can Love You has been confirmed as the new single but Radio 2 are playing it.

I think it has probably settled as my favourite so good choice if so. One of the band said somewhere that it is the song that could have come from any one of their previous albums, and I can see that.
 
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Still loving this album and I think it might be my favourite post-reunion record of theirs.
 
1. Suede
2. Dog Man Star
(Sci Fi Lullabies)
3. Coming Up
4. AUTOFICTION
5. Bloodsports
6. Night Thoughts
7. The Blue Hour
8. Head Music
9. A New Morning
 
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