Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Suede, Warner Music UK 2018.
Britpop icons, Suede, are back with their eighth studio album.
The Blue Hour is an extension of their highly acclaimed 2016 release, Night Thoughts, that achieved top 10 placings in the album charts and continued the change in direction begun with their come-back album Bloodsports which was released in 2013.
The musical progression from the band’s reforming in 2013 to this album has seen a continuous shift away from albums comprised of individual and unrelated tracks to a united body of work built around unifying themes and motifs.
They have become an albums band because artistically they have much more to say and explore.
The Blue Hour is an expansive and ambitious work that was written as one continuous piece, although there are 13 distinct, thematically linked, songs on the album.
The album sees the band continue to explore new ground sonically.
They include choral sections and spoken word as well as string arrangements performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.
I like the change of direction from their earlier albums.
Although there are still classic Britpop elements to the music there is also much more depth.
The linking of the songs to a theme (the blue hour is that period when the light of day is fading and night is closing in) gives the music a progressive and expansive feel and moves it more into prog rock territory than Britpop.
The music has real power and a brooding sense drama and Brett Anderson’s vocals as good as ever. In fact I don’t think the band has ever been better.
The band has said The Blue Hour is the final part of the triptych begun with Bloodsports so it will be interesting to see where they venture next.
