Suede return with the announcement of Autofiction, their ninth studio album, due for release on 16th September 2022 via BMG.
Suede have also debut the brand new single ‘She Still Leads Me On’ on Steve Lamacq’s BBC 6Music show yesterday with Brett Anderson describing the record as the “rawest and punkiest album we’ve made.” The new single is available to listen to now, below.
First single ‘She Still Leads Me On’ is heartfelt and laced with incendirary guitars and a soaring and inspired chorus, the track that reconfigured what the album could be. A song written from Brett to his late mother.
As Suede began work on the songs that would become Autofiction, they decided to go back to basics. In a move that recalled their most formative days, Brett Anderson, Mat Osman, Simon Gilbert, Richard Oakes and Neil Codling schlepped to a rehearsal studio in deserted Kings Cross to collect a key, hump their own gear, set up and start playing.
Speaking about Autofiction, Brett Anderson said:
“Autofiction is our punk record. No whistles and bells. Just the five of us in a room with all the glitches and fuck-ups revealed; the band themselves exposed in all their primal mess.”
Autofiction was recorded live at Konk studios in North London with long-time Suede collaborator, Ed Buller. Ed first worked with the band producing their debut single ‘The Drowners’, which sees its 30th anniversary this month.
If 30 years ago ‘The Drowners’ was a rattling anthem for the blurred sexuality and vivacity of unusual youth, then Autofiction’s grappling with concerns of a different point in life sound no less vital. “Autofiction has a natural freshness, it’s where we want to be,” says Brett Anderson. A group of people living off the raw sensation of creating music together in a room. “When we were rehearsing and writing this record it was this sheer, physical rush. That thing where you’re hanging on for dear life,” says bass player Mat Osman.
As its title suggests, Autofiction is one of Anderson’s most personal records yet. A reaction to 2018’s ‘The Blue Hour’ it finds Anderson “Reflecting on the process of writing acclaimed works of memoir Coal Black Mornings and Afternoons With The Blinds Drawn helped Brett get a newfound perspective on himself as a performer and singer in the public eye, much of which has bled into the lyricism of Autofiction.”
Following the release of Autofiction, October 2022 will see two special intimate shows at London’s Electric Ballroom, with more live activity soon to be announced. Electric Ballroom tickets are on sale from 27th May at www.suede.co.uk with a fan presale beginning 26th May.
2022 Tour Dates
October
05 London, Electric Ballroom
06 London, Electric Ballroom
Autofiction Tracklisting
She Still Leads Me On
Personality Disorder
15 Again
The Only Way I Can Love You
That Boy on the Stage
Drive Myself Home
Black Ice
Shadow Self
It’s Always the Quiet Ones
What am I Without You?
Turn off Your Brain and Yell
(photographer credit Dean Chalkley
