The Tears, Here Come the Tears

I have been waiting for Here Come the Tears for, essentially, 10 years. Pretty much since Bernard Butler walked out on Suede during the recording of Dog Man Star. It was (almost) worth the wait!

Here Come the Tears is a masterpiece of pop genius, full of grand, overblown gestures, lavish production and sweeping imagery. Produced by Bernard Butler, it sounds like a more mature, worldly version of Suede if Phil Spector had been producing that band. Lyrically it follows simple enough themes of love and loss (Refugees, Lovers, A Love as Strong as Death, The Ghost of You) and observations on the decline of modern culture and the stresses of modern life (Two Creatures, Brave New Century, The Asylum). Musically Brett's plaintive lyrics are accompanied by soaring guitars and elaborate arrangements, and, occasionally, a drum machine. It seems as if much of the glossy overproduction is extremely deliberate, an attempt to both announce their grand arrival and to poke fun at the excesses and self-reverence of most pop music.

Where the album works, it's fantastic. "Refugees" is a perfectly constructed pop song, "Autograph" and "Imperfections" touching observations on various aspects of love and "The Ghost of You" is breathtaking in its simple descriptions of the pain of getting over the loss of a loved one. The album's two masterpieces, however, are "Brave New Century" which is essentially "We Are the Pigs" without the drugs and apocalyptic nightmares, reconstructing the theme of decay and decline in a more real world sense and "Apollo 13" which, mixed metaphors and slightly barmy imagery aside, is fabulously touching, heartbreaking and stunning in its lavish arrangements and pronouncements on doomed relationships.

On occasion, however, the album is less than convincing. "Co-Star", meant to be a song about viewing your life through a film, actually comes across a bit like the delusions of grandeur of a rock star thinking his life in the public eye makes his relationship into a glorious, cinematic love story (and has a couple of lyrics which do cross that cheese line); "Two Creatures" unfortunately comes across as a rather sad tribute to backpacking; and "A Love as Strong as Death" which lyrically veers between beautifully touching and vomit-inducing in equal measures. It's pretty, it's clearly meant to be that way, with its inflated orchestration and showy strings, but I'm not yet convinced it actually works.

Overall, Brett Anderson seems to be back on form, revelling in his return to the real world from his late '90's drug-haze and glad to be able to break free of the Suede pastiches of low rent glamour, sex and drugs, and Bernard Butler, quite frankly, hasn't produced anything of this calibre since 1994. So, while there are a couple of dubious (although not altogether unpleasant) moments on the record, and while they could certainly stretch themselves creatively a little more on their next offering, the result of the first outing for The Tears is wholly satisfying and nearly worth the wait.