A post-album release to bolster one of their very best comeback singles, Suede fans are being treated this year. We’ve had a lot to celebrate since the band reformed in 2010 – a stretch of albums matching, if not exceeding, their heyday work, and a worthy return to the stage promoting their contemporary material – and there is more yet to come. Sweet Kid, the fourth song to Suede’s Antidepressants, is worth a feature of its own. The Brett Anderson-fronted group has gone all in on their new, post-punk-adjacent direction and it’s a thrill to hear. Pair Antidepressants with Sweet Kid, as the album does anyway, and it’s a real treat. Not new material, but a new spotlight to shine some worthy praise on the mortality which underscores the theme of Suede’s latest. Like Pulp with Tina, hammering out a lyrics video after the album released as a tease of more to come is quite nice. If it’s anything like the Autofiction rollout, fans may hope for live album treats, deluxe editions and more from Suede.
Who wouldn’t want more of this style? Suede are at their very best in the overlap between Autofiction and Antidepressants. This new, darker tint to their style is a welcome change not just because it defies the glam rock of their earlier years, but because only the best artists can convince an audience of their new image. David Bowie did it a multitude of times, Bob Dylan had a little success with that, too. Suede has wholly convinced of their new direction and attitude because they’ve backed this slick image with quality work. Heading back into the title track after a break from listening is an incredible reawakening of everything right with the song. Anderson sounds as staggering as ever, the brutal crunch and roar of that instrumental quality remain. The fundamentals are in place, and they act as a very worthy foundation for modern-day Suede. What a contrast Antidepressants and Sweet Kid shows off, though, a real depth to the band’s work remains.
Sobering thoughts on mortality and the passage of time is easy to write, but hard to punctuate with honest emotional range. Anderson and the band has no trouble on Sweet Kid. There’s a familiarity to the bass riff and steady drumming on this track, and it acts as a fantastic contrast to the worries and fretting heard in the lyrics. Moments where Anderson hopes for the best for his loved ones, anxieties of whether the life that belongs to them is going to be stable in the world around them. It’s a touching moment from the band and, more now than ever, reflects the ever-changing political tone of the world. Anderson may insist the album has little to say on politics, but it’s in the inference and meanings which come down the line that keeps Suede’s music relevant.
They don’t seek that tone but some of their oldest songs are still touching on the tones and feelings of the modern world. Most artists cannot consciously achieve this style, and there should be no suggestion that Suede has done so with Antidepressants or Sweet Kid. But the solid instrumental work, the ongoing intensity Anderson brings as a songwriter, it all lingers on the mind and will for a long while yet. Sweet Kid offers a deeply personal moment with Anderson and the band, one of their more obvious, emotionally staggering achievements. Pull it from the album, experience it in isolation from The Sound and the Summer, and a whole new context is brought on. Sweet Kid is a hopeful song, and there’s little of that around these days, but still, the anxieties pull at the track, as it does at the album, too. It’s classy, contemporary, and cool, a tone Suede has moulded to perfection with their recent album releases.
