THE reactivated Britpop survivors return with their second post-reunion album, Night Thoughts, which finds Brett Anderson and co showing off their knack for crafting dramatic, catchy indie rock laced with dark romance and seedy, bruised soul subject matter.
The LP kicks off in style with a terrific opener in When You Are Young. Gradually morphing from a brooding orchestral theme into grandiose rock-based territory, this features Brett doing his Bowie-esque thing like the band were never away.
Its musical 'theme' is later reprised on the tellingly titled When We Were Young, by which point the record has snaked through the likes of gothy Suede anthem Outsiders, stomping guitar wrangler No Tomorrow, sweeping piano-based ballad Pale Snow and a clutch of tempestuous, mesmeric slow-burns; Learning To Be, Tightrope, I Don't Know How To Reach You and the rather creepy I Can't Give Her What She Wants.
The self-concious funk of the confessional What I'm Trying To Tell You is rescued by a typically bulletproof Suede chorus (see also the low-rent glam-by-numbers of Little Kids) while the record ends with the majestic, melodramatic pomp of The Fur And The Feathers.
Yep, they've still got it.
