Suede
The Drowners EP
»
Suede
The Drowners EP
Nude/Columbia, 1993
RiYL: David Bowie, T-Rex, Blur's Leisure, The Smiths |
"The Drowners" itself is a raucous anthem, lassoed by Bernard Butler's punctuated guitar riff. Singer Brett Anderson's ambiguous lyrics ("We kiss in his room / to a popular tune") and high-pitched croon recall Bowie's most theatrical moments, but in a different musical setting.
The three non-album studio tracks on the EP are fine examples of the Anderson/Butler songwriting collaboration, which produced great material early in the band's career but diminished as the relationship between the two disintegrated (Butler left the band in 1994). "My Insatiable One" and "To The Birds" are regal pop tunes in the vein of the title track, Butler's guitar propelling Anderson's soaring vocals. "The Big Time" is slower and sorrowful, a lone jazzy trumpet shedding tears in the bridge.
On "He's Dead," recorded live at Glastonbury, Butler shows his chops with a wrenching guitar solo kept on pace by Simon Gilbert's forceful drumming.
The Drowners can serve as an inexpensive intro to the band's early sound or a bonus for fans. The non-album tracks are quite worth the price of admission (that is, of course, assuming one has not purchased subsequent double-disc b-sides orgy Sci-Fi Lullabies).
TROY CARPENTER | Troy Carpenter founded NATN from a Chicago apartment during the ambitious winter of 1998 with co-conspirators Ben French and Jonathan Cohen. After a five-year stint in New York, he and wife Lourdes have recently relocated to Indianapolis, where he spends days listening to music and nights in the kitchen at Elements restaurant. Musical heroes: Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Super Furry Animals. What else makes life worth living: Sushi, Phucty, runs in the park, and the Atlanta Braves.