[a]Brett Anderson[/a]’s never been one to shirk a ludicrous metaphor. Twelve years after hitting on a girl that was “the colour of a magazine”, the daft loon’s prancing merrily ’neath ‘Black Rainbows’ on his post-Suede reunion Return To Rock Form. The record boasts maybe his finest solo single to date in ‘Brittle Heart’, plus a clutch of mid-tempo rockers that scrub up nicely – even if the seedy Soho glam of yore is replaced by a leadenly earnest tone. The puzzling lyrics remain, though: “give me your ashtray eyes”, “your hair is like the autumn” etc. Honestly Brett, you’d make a rubbish police witness.
Alex Denney