Paraorchestra and Brett Anderson – Death Songbook Review

A list of talent grows longer and longer the more Paraorchestra’s latest work –  the Death Songbook collaboration with Suede frontman Brett Anderson – is looked at. They already teased their vivid works together with a cover of Echo and the Bunnymen – a magnificent piece when Anderson is given the time to show off his vocal range, as he has done during the decade-long Suede return. We are better for it and are now in finer company thanks to Death Songbook. A Suede track makes its way into this orchestral work – She Still Leads Me On sits right there, at the heart of this release. Their strength lies in a vocal performance removed from the glam rock and alternative charm Suede has brought about over the last three decades. In its place comes a plodding and sometimes interesting orchestral momentum, lending Death Songbook a few creative covers. 

While the orchestra and Anderson should batter these ideas back and forth, they sound at odds for the first few tracks. Unsung and Holes are wonderful moments which stride for the depth of a multitude of instrumental highs but the latter song, a Nadine Shah-featuring track laden with flutes, eyes up a potential warning sign. It is not the quality but of how much Death Songbook attempts. In parts, it feels overly ambitious without finding its footing on solid ground. But those are the risks artists must and shall continue to take – and rightly so. Nightporter sounds seeped in the medieval charms of its calm and direct instrumentals. It gives Anderson the foundations to leap forward and convince of his slower, macabre vocals. She Still Leads Me On sounds as strong as it does on Autofiction, the striking guitar swapped out for the Paraorchestra at their finest. 

Thankfully they get this one right – the rest of Death Songbook is peppered with other Suede tracks like The Next Life. A shock Depeche Mode cover with Enjoy the Silence makes its way through and highlights, more than anything, the talent Anderson possesses for adapting and understanding the works of other contemporaries. The Next Life makes use of some touching, soft guitar as the focus once more heads to Anderson. He’s Dead is where the orchestra finds themselves at their best. Furious flurries of creative brass and flutes. Shah strikes a wonderful baroque pop section on The End of the World – a furiously brilliant work which elicits fond memories of listening to Daniel Knox while bashing out exams. My Death is a high too, the almost spaghetti western tenderness of one vocalist and an intermittent guitar works wonders for Death Songbook.  

So too the album works wonders for the listener. There is plenty to love in this massive collaboration between a talented orchestra and one of the finest frontmen around. A tenderness washes over Death Songbook more from the vocal strengths Anderson displays. It is up to Paraorchestra to match this and when they do, on the likes of Brutal Lover for instance, the blend of fine work and skilful, ambitious covers, makes for a striking realisation of intense and emotive proportions. Powerful stuff was expected and the collaborative efforts of an orchestra hard at work, underscoring the best of these musical moments, provides some slick and ideal covers. Much to love and plenty of time to enjoy them, Death Songbook hosts Anderson and his usually gripping vocal brilliance.