Suede’s improbable and incredible 2013 comeback record Bloodsports was one of our favorite stories of last year, but it wasn’t long after the album’s release that the British band surprised fans with the news that a follow-up wouldn’t be far behind.
After all, it had been 11 years between Bloodsports and what we all thought was Suede’s end, 2002’s misguided A New Morning, and last year’s stunning batch of new material, like the majestic “For The Strangers” and the ripping glam shout-along “Snowblind,” felt like one grand attempt to end the band on the same high notes it hit in the ’90s.
But it appears that Bloodsports was more the beginning of a second chapter than the closing of the first. Earlier this week at Nibe Festival in Denmark, Suede unveiled a new song, “Tightrope,” that suggests more greatness is on the way.
“Tightrope” is a minimal guitar-rock ballad that finds frontman Brett Anderson pushing out of his range with all his usual love and poison, and the track has traces of beloved b-side “The Living Dead” and “Apollo 13,” a song Anderson co-wrote with original Suede guitarist Bernard Butler a few years ago under the Tears moniker.
Hopefully this is a sign of quality to come.
Hat tip to stateside Suede confidant Charles E. Roberts for the head’s up.
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