Few bands can say they are at the same standard they were in their heyday. Suede proves it is easy if your heart is in the right place. Their build towards Antidepressants, an album which appears to be evolving the darker tones of Autofiction, has been tremendous. Lead single Disintegrate was the band at their very best – a piece of work which casts a shadow over their legacy and reinvents the band as a group no longer afraid of punk roots and counterculture stylings. Trance State offers the same, with its continued focus on the abject experience of a breakdown, comedown, or cluster of emotions threatening to destroy the comfortable balance of life. Frontman Brett Anderson uses those microscopic musings, as he did through his autobiography, Coal Black Mornings, to break free from that titular feeling. Trance State offers something to break from and uses a heavier glam and gothic blur to do so.
Suede has done exceptionally well to counter the expectations of their sound. This is not a playthrough of the hits. The tones which cemented them as one of the best bands around, the instrumental skill which holds them in place as a cornerstone of British rock music, is evolving. Any band which can carry forward into a new decade with a fresh, skilfully pieced sound, is worth hearing. Trance State has more in common with The Cure than it does with previous Suede records, especially the defining, androgynous experiences of Coming Up and Dog Man Star. No, this is a new Suede, a fresh set of fangs, a gnashing sense which overwhelms the expected run of alternative rock tones. Anderson is as effective a lyricist as ever, building on the breakdown and build-up heard on lead single Disintegrate. A monotone style to his voice is what provides Trance State a solid foundation. It is this, the passionate yet intentionally restrained tone, which gives this Antidepressants track its edge.
Simon Gilbert and Mat Osman are the men to thank for this new sound. Trance State has the percussion and bass right at the forefront, opening with the moody grasp of the post-punk tangent that gothic rock would form. Anderson sounds up for it, too, the unsociable character he sings of is both present in the world yet completely disconnected from it. Suede has often dealt heavy-handed lyrical blows, be it through emotional volatility or the survival of an individual in a world which values conformity. Trance State has the medicated mind battle that conformity. To move away from what makes us unique is to lose the part of ourselves worth fighting for, that much appears frequently in the latest releases from Suede.
Gothic rock tones and black and white imagery are not the only ties Trance State has to preceding album Autofiction. Where the group’s previous release had an autobiographical tinge to it, the new songs have a reliance on those stomping, heavy percussion pieces. That Boy on the Stage did so for the previous release, and with the two new tracks, it becomes clear just how important the sluggish punches, the heaviness of the emotional spiral, are to the new sound. At once classic Suede and a new route for the band, Trance State is an exceptional blur of what has the band slot in as a crowd-pleasing, but ever-evolving group. Anderson and the band remain unafraid of change. Trance State has them revel in the chilling changes, wanted or not, they must be adapted with, either alongside or against.
