Suede - 'Positivity' (Sony)
3/5
By: Thomas Hannan
The way to deal with mounting pressure and criticism is to act as if you simply don't care. For a song with so many hopes resting on whether it's a hit or a flop, Suede seem blissfully unaware of how make or break 'Positivity' is. Their last effort 'Head Music' failed to really rock anybody's world, many guessing that Suede, after so many trials and tribulations, may well finally call it a day and hang up their instruments.
Well, if this is the sound of such an event happening, then Suede giving up sounds a lot better than Suede trying. In short, 'Positivity' knocks the spots off anything taken from 'Head Music'. As the title suggests, for once they seem comfortable with everything and everyone around them, the song itself simply being a short, radio-friendly ode to, in layman's terms, how if you think the earth is a kind planet, everything else just falls into place.
Even Brett's trademark vocals reveal him to be in a very chirpy mood. 'The morning is for you,' he croons, 'and the sunshine is free.' Admittedly, not two of his most cryptic lyrics ever, but ones that give you a sense of what a rather upbeat, toe tappin' Suede we're dealing with. Arguably though, Suede are at their best have when their more sinister side creeps in - and, thankfully, this part makes an appearance here, too; 'the birds sing for you', yes, but whoever you are, 'the cars crash for you', too...
So, yes, the whole affair may well be unmistakably Suede, but in a scene where numerous pretenders adopt a similar flair and sound, it's refreshing to hear from the originals, even if they aren't essentially breaking new ground... But this is the point of 'Positivity', not so much to inspire new scenes, but to reclaim that which has been lost. And, in doing that, it's a resounding success.
Artists in this article: Suede
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