BRETT ANDERSON has “completely isolated himself” from the rest of Suede and the “distractions of London life” to work on material for the band’s fifth album, nme.com can reveal.
David Barnett, who works for the official Suede Information Service, reveals in an interview on the unofficial Suede website [url=]www.suede.ukf.net that the band have already completed at least five full demos for the follow-up to last year’s ‘Head Music’ album, and plan to enter the studio again next month (August) to record another “handful” of tracks. The final recording of the album is expected later in the year.
Barnett claims that vocalist Brett, who has written almost all the lyrics for the new album so far, is taking “a lot more time and care over the words”, isolating himself away from the rest of the band to formulate ideas. He continued: “Brett has completely isolated himself from the distractions of London life. He’s spending days at a time in this cottage he’s rented out on the fringes of Croydon. I suppose it’s similar to when he locked himself away in a monastery in Highgate for ‘Dog Man Star’…the others are all writing from home then they’re getting together once or twice a week.
“Brett has obviously been taking a lot more time and care over the words. They’re still very much Suede but there’s a lot more variety in his lyrical lexicon, a lot of interesting imagery. He’s been reading a lot of books. The cottage doesn’t have a phone or a TV so he’s totally immersing himself in music and literature which I think can only be a good thing.”
While not wanting to make any assumptions about the band’s musical direction, he does reveal that the later B-Sides from the ‘Head Music’ singles may be a good indicator. He concluded: “The songs are very simple and straightforward sonically, but that’s because they’re concentrating on the melodies at this stage. The sound will probably change drastically by the time they get into the studio. It’s like seeing a rough pencil sketch of the Mona Lisa or something, it might look promising but you won’t see the full picture until it’s coloured in.”
In addition to his work on the Suede Information Service, David Barnett works for Suede‘s management company Interceptor Enterprises. A UK spokesperson for the band confirmed the interview to be authentic.