Antidepressants (album)

In 2025, frontman Brett Anderson revealed in Mojo magazine that before their previous album, Autofiction (2022), was released, the band had initially intended for its follow-up to take an artier approach: a ballet soundtrack. However, upon the album's positive reception, the project was shelved, with only "Between an Atom and a Star" and "Life Is Endless, Life Is a Moment" repurposed for Antidepressants.^[1]

In June 2024, before a performance at the Isle of Wight Festival, Anderson and bassist Mat Osman sat down for an interview with Ben Burrell for Absolute Radio, where the former revealed that the band was recording the album.^[2] In a press release, he said that "If Autofiction was our punk record, Antidepressants is our post-punk record." Produced by Suede's longstanding producer Ed Buller, it was recorded between ICP Studios in Brussels, RAK and Sleeper Sounds Studios in London, and RMV Studio in Stockholm.^[3]

The album previously had the working title Broken Music for Broken People, which, like Antidepressants, is also the name of a track.^[1] Anderson had also considered Suppression, which would have addressed both his feelings of being trapped in a "digital cage" and the "joyous moments" that nonetheless emerge from such suppression. He ultimately decided against that title, believing that it was too dark. Antidepressants was chosen so that it could take on a more literal interpretation: that in his life, music acts as an antidepressant.^[4] The front cover alludes to a 1962 Vogue photograph taken by John Deakin of the artist Francis Bacon, in which he posed shirtless between two slabs of meat; the photo of Bacon is in turn a reference to his painting Figure with Meat.^[5]

During the Isle of Wight Festival performance in mid-2024, Suede debuted Antidepressants's title track.^[2] On 12 May 2025, the band released a video of a separate live performance of the song from July 2024 at Alexandra Palace, London.^[9][19] One week later, Suede revealed the lead single, "Disintegrate", with a black and white music video directed by Chris Turner. The single was also accompanied with details of the album, including the title, artwork, release date, and track listing.^[20] After releasing their second single "Trance State" on 11 June,^[3] Suede premiered "Dancing with the Europeans" on 28 July with another video by Turner,^[21] filmed during a gig at Bush Hall, London.^[22]

On 26 August 2025, just ten days before its release, Suede performed the album in full at the Clore Ballroom in Southbank Centre, London, where they were scheduled to return in September for a week-long residency dubbed Suede Takeover. During the concert, Anderson shared that the band intends for Antidepressants to be the second part in a trilogy of "black and white" albums including Autofiction, with the third part to be released later in the decade.^[23] On 19 October, Suede performed "Disintegrate" live on the BBC Two programme Later... with Jools Holland.^[24] On 13 January 2026, Suede released "Sweet Kid" as the fourth single in anticipation of a UK tour. Promotionally, it was marketed as a double A-side single with "Antidepressants".^[25]

Antidepressants was released on 5 September 2025 through BMG.^[6][20] In addition to standard physical formats (CD, vinyl, and cassette), a deluxe CD containing three bonus tracks was made available and packaged in a "Hessian slip case",^[26] and the Japanese CD contains a separate bonus track entitled "Medication".^[27] Prior to release, the September 2025 issue of the UK magazine Mojo included a 15-track covermount CD of Suede material with the title Outsiders: Live. Rare. Unreleased. 1990–2025, containing the aforementioned performance of "Antidepressants" at Alexandra Palace, a demo of "Disintegrate", and the album track "Criminal Ways".^[28]

More information Aggregate scores, Source ...

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	8.3/10[41]
Metacritic	89/100[42]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Clash	8/10[7]
Classic Pop	[16]
The Guardian	[43]
The Line of Best Fit	9/10[15]
Louder Than War	[6]
Mojo	[8]
MusicOMH	[13]
Record Collector	[4]
Spill Magazine	[44]
Uncut	8/10[9]

Close

According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Antidepressants received "universal acclaim" based on a weighted average score of 89 out of 100 from 14 critic scores.^[42] AnyDecentMusic?, another aggregator, gave it an average rating of 8.3 out of 10 from a sample of 18 critical reviews.^[41]

Some reviewers compared the album to its immediate predecessor Autofiction (2022). Emma Harrison, writing for Clash magazine, said it twisted Autofiction's "raw energy ... into a dense, distorted fever dream", resulting in one of the best albums the band had made to that point.^[7] In Beats Per Minute, John Wohlmacher said that although Autofiction "was this joyful, life affirming record that cut all fat", Antidepressants was an improvement overall, additionally finding it to be a "more poignant" album.^[11] Claire Biddles of The Quietus analogised the band's trajectory to the transition from their debut Suede (1993) to the "considered and progressive, if not as immediately thrilling" Dog Man Star (1994), finding the album to be an adequate midpoint for a trilogy. Otherwise, Biddles praised the album for continuing to capture the dynamics of the band's live performances.^[5]

Multiple critics praised Suede for pursuing a more modern sound given their age. AllMusic's Matt Collar opined that with Antidepressants, they successfully adapted the style of their early work while avoiding an outdated sound, attributing much of this to "Anderson's soulful, poetic gravitas".^[14] John Earls of Classic Pop magazine commended Suede for successfully modernising their sound despite its difficulty, though he called "Somewhere Between an Atom and a Star" "traditional" and an exception.^[16] Likewise, Shawn Curran of Record Collector praised Suede for remaining "interesting and invigorated", crediting Oakes in particular for his contributions.^[4]

In light of the publicised reunions for Oasis and Pulp, both peers of Suede during the Britpop era, Ben Hogwood of MusicOMH lauded the band for their willingness to look forward and address more modern concerns, finishing their five-star review by saying Suede was "at the very height of their powers."^[13] In The Guardian, Dave Simpson similarly expressed that "Antidepressants is no throwback. It's thoroughly postmodern", adding in a four star review that they believe it is the band's best album since they reunited and "a late career triumph".^[43] In The Line of Best Fit, Matt Young thought the album displayed an authenticity by avoiding a more nostalgic approach for a group their age, concluding that while Antidepressants is "Not necessarily healing, it's just honest."^[15]

Stephen Troussé of Uncut, rating Antidepressants 8 out of 10, deemed it their best album since Coming Up and said it "boasts the best first side of a goth album since the Banshees' Juju".^[9] In Spectrum Culture, Will Pinford considered it to be among Suede's best albums and Anderson's best vocal performances, lauding the closer in particular.^[18] However, both Troussé and Pinford were critical of the pacing of the second half.^[9][18] In DIY, Louisa Dixon's main criticism pertained to lyrical repetition, specifically in "Dancing with the Europeans" and "Criminal Ways", but they found it "solid" and "pleasantly dense" overall.^[45]

Credits are adapted from the deluxe CD liner notes.^[63]

Suede

• Brett Anderson – vocals, design
• Mat Osman – bass
• Neil Codling – synthesiser, piano
• Richard Oakes – guitars
• Simon Gilbert – drums

Additional personnel

• Jordon Aniseed – additional vocals (tracks 1, 5, 7, 9)
• Ed Buller – production, engineering
• Giovanni Lando, Ben Webster, Sam Wilkins – engineering (ICP Studios)
• Jamie Sprosen – engineering (Sleeper Sounds)
• Vilma Colling, Linn Fijal, Nathalie Martinez – engineering (RMV Studio, 1–11)
• Sam Button – engineering (RAK Studios, 1–11)
• Andrew Scheps – mixing (Punkerpad UK and RAK, 1–11)
• Caesar Edmunds – mixing (Battery Studios, 12–14)
• Matt Colton – mastering (Metropolis Studios)
• Paul Khera – design