The Death Songbook Paraorchestra with Brett Anderson and Charles Hazlewood
The Death Songbook is yet another project that came to fruition during the Covid-19 lockdown and resulted from a conversation between Suede vocalist Brett Anderson and conductor Charles Hazlewood. The twelve tracks included concern songs about death, the death of love and transcendence.
Created in the spirit of “inclusivity and collaboration” the Paraorchestra was formed to give disabled musicians more of a platform towards integration and inclusion. The reimagining begins with Echo & the Bunnymen’s classic single The Killing Moon. Anderson is a good fit for the track on vocals, his Bowie-isms along with stunning orchestral and brass arrangements are a worthy endeavour.
An elegant version of Japan’s Nightporter lifts the 1980 song to a new level, getting under the skin of the listener. Undoubtedly this is an album for night owls who enjoy spinning the black circle at the other side of midnight. The spellbinding talent of Nadine Shah is present during a haunting duet with Anderson on The End of the World originally made famous by Skeeter Davis in the summer of 1962.
Shah also brings her sublime voice to a version of Holes by Mercury Rev, she described working with the pair as: “A moment of melancholic magic with a bunch of fellow goths.” Suede’s track He’s Dead is reworked with an elegiac woodwind arrangement, it’s not lost its rockier edge and even recalls Tin Soldier by The Small Faces as it summons an almighty sonic soup of wonder.
A dreamy version of Suede’s The Next Life is delivered with a rush of warmth and yearning. Brett Anderson perhaps should have considered his solo cut Love Is Dead, it undoubtedly would have fitted the remit and perhaps deserves a wider audience.
The Suede front-man has no problem channelling Bowie on the Jacques Brel penned My Death, this acoustic rendition summons the famous 1973 concert at the Hammersmith Odeon. A fine collection of songs suited to vinyl that is, despite the title, strangely uplifting.
