The follow-up to 2018's album The Blue Hour, will be out 16th September via BMG. Pre-order your copy here.
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 The London 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. And where Suede want to be is, in a way, the same place as they were when they began 30 years ago – 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.
First single ‘She Still Leads Me On’ is the track that reconfigured what the album could be. A beautiful song written from Brett to his late mother. As its title suggests, Autofiction is one of Anderson’s most personal records yet. 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.
Check out the album's tracklist and listen to "She Still Leads Me On" below.
Autofiction Tracklisting:
1. She Still Leads Me On
2. Personality Disorder
3. 15 Again
4. The Only Way I Can Love You
5. That Boy on the Stage
6. Drive Myself Home
7. Black Ice
8. Shadow Self
9. It's Always the Quiet Ones
10. What am I Without You
11. Turn off Your Brain and Yell
