adriandenning.co.uk
album reviews

Brett Anderson



Brett Anderson 6½ ( 2007 )
Love Is Dead / One Lazy Morning / Dust and Rain / Intimacy / To the Winter / Scorpio Rising / The Infinite Kiss / Colour of the Night / The More We Possess The Less We Own of Ourselves / Ebony / Song for My Father

Brett Anderson finally proves he can craft his own songs without the shadows of either Suede or Bernard Butler in tow. You could have expected more or less from this album depending on which side of the Suede fence you sit. If you're a fan of those first three Suede albums and moments from The Tears debut, you may not have expected anything from this slightly bland collection of admittedly well crafted pop songs. If you stuck on and found much to enjoy in the latter day Suede albums, you may be expecting more from this collection, or at least, something different. Either way, giving the guy the benefit of the doubt reveals he knows how to write songs at least as well as another britpop refugee, Richard Ashcroft. What we have here is mostly piano dominated songs with tasteful, low key guitar parts. Plenty of romantic strings, touches of keyboards and strangely middle of the road backing vocals. One major plus point is the sound of the voice of Brett Anderson. Once in the latter Suede days sounding very whiny and shattered, on this collection of ballad material his voice soars very romantically indeed. The first two songs could both be described as minor-classics, indeed. Both ballads and both easy to hear on the radio, touches of class amidst the mire. 'Dust And Rain' is where problems begin. A guitar led song with the, er, amazing line i am the dust, you are the rain, i am the needle and you are the vein we later use sex like an antidote to the pain. As a song it's a mid-tempo dirge with guitars that do nothing interesting and the entire song does nothing until a lovely unexpected piano section comes in two thirds of the way through.

The mid section of this album sags unbearably. 'To The Winter' contains plenty of cringe inducing lyrics and the procession of mid-tempo ballads one after the other simply tries the patience in any event. The interestingly titled 'The More We Possess The Less We Own Of Ourselves' sees Anderson accompanied only by a string section, he gets his lyrics right and texturally the song stands out from the others at least a little. By the time we reach the lyrically brave closer 'Song For My Father', a well crafted effort, you do just yearn for some glam-tastic, foot-stomping sounds of old. Rather more accurately, you yearn for anything surprising at all from an album that just plays it all too safe, the touching 'Song For My Father' apart.

Share Your Views?