“I made this album with the purest of intentions: to create a beautiful suite of songs untethered by second-guessing markets and playlists and music biz bullshit. I have no record company, no publisher and a smaller audience but I have never been more confident and focused about what I am doing as an artist”
Brett Anderson, June 2008.
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Recorded and mixed in 7 days and featuring only voice, strings and piano, “Wilderness” is the new album from Brett Anderson and heralds an amazing new chapter in his life. The album will be released this autumn but Brett will preview the record live this Monday, July 7 at London’s Mermaid Theatre, where he will be accompanied onstage by cellist Amy Langley and special guest Emmanuelle Seigner, both of whom feature on the album.
Throughout his career it would be fair to say that Brett Anderson has never done anything by halves. At strategic points he has performed such a volte- face with his music that it has sometimes been hard for fans and critics to know what he is going to do next. This record is no exception, and is the most astounding record Brett has made in his entire career.
His first record, the era-defining ‘Suede’, became the soundtrack to a new generation, a generation disaffected by much of the music and culture around it, and one hungry for the visceral thrills intrinsic in the best timeless pop. They found it in Suede who would come to be the group who informed not only their vast audience but the whole of the music industry, creating a seismic shift away from the domination of American rock music in the UK.
From then on, Brett Anderson would display an intelligence and sense of artistry which would single him and his group out from the herds who followed. A tellingly dramatic shift in personnel on the eve of their brilliantly grandiose second album ‘Dog Man Star” threatened to derail them but they returned with a new vigour and focus and became even more successful than ever. For a while they were imperious, ruling the charts and the music press with a sense of experimentation and style which was completely their own.
Listen back to the records today and here indeed is the sound of a group thrillingly ahead of the pack. Everything they did was immaculate and fitted into a glorious lineage encompassing Bowie, T.Rex, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Roxy Music – not in sound but in inspiration and that peculiarly English sense of otherness, of being on the outside, of playing around within pop’s often limited strictures. More than just pop songs, for many Suede’s music was a lifeline to another world and to this day their work stands alone in capturing an expressly British aesthetic.
When the group split Brett reunited with ex Suede guitarist Bernard Butler to form The Tears, and their album “Here Come The Tears” was released in 2005. Brett also collaborated with Stina Nordenstam and Jane Birkin.
In 2006, he released his debut solo album, the intensely personal “Brett Anderson”, which captured an artist at a turning point in his life. Of course the gorgeous melodies were still there but this time they were coupled to lyrics which showed an artist coming to terms with huge life changes and new experiences. This was an altogether different artist from the one who had so adroitly captured various other lives through a looking glass in his earlier work. The focus was moving inwards.
And now comes “Wilderness”, the most haunting record you will hear all year. Detailing a love affair, the record displays all the heightened emotions of love and thus is joyous, bleak, euphoric, and reflective – and very beautiful. It’s a record that is intense and stands outside of the mainstream and is all the better for it. Like all classic albums, its an album Brett Anderson had to make at this point in his life.
“Wilderness” is the most captivating album you will hear all year.
"effortless elegance" - Independent on Sunday
"richly seductive" - The Guardian
"starkly beautiful" - Teletext
"sublime" - The London Paper
"****" - The Express
"cherish it" - The Metro
"a subtle and well executed album" - TheQuietus
"a massive step forward.. still crackling with emotional tremor 15
years on" - Music Week
"curl up with it and smile ****" - Music OMH
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Also available:
Debut solo album 'BRETT ANDERSON' – OUT NOW
"Happily, Brett's solo album is a genuinely wonderful record full of genuinely wonderful songs. If you've ever liked him at all, you will love it." - Word
"We get acoustic guitars, lush string arrangements and the previously cagey Anderson pouring his heart out.. both brave and moving." - Uncut
"Combines classic Scott Walker-esque balladry with a subtle modernist undertow." - Independent on Sunday
"Those who still recall the glory days fondly will enjoying examining the state of Anderson's art and heart." - MOJO
United Kingdom:
Buy it from Amazon UK HERE
Buy it from Play.com HERE
Buy it from HMV HERE
Download it from Official Brett Anderson Store HERE
Download it from iTunes HERE
USA and rest of world (import):
Buy it from Amazon US HERE
Buy it from CD Wow HERE (free delivery anywhere in the world)
brettanderson.co.uk
myspace.com/brettandersonofficial
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