It’s been close to a decade since we were last treated to new music from the mighty Placebo and just as the world has changed drastically in that time, so, too, have the founding members of this iconic London two-piece – vocalist / guitarist Brian Molko and bassist Stefan Olsdal.
It’s a change that hits you from the moment you hit play on this 13-track LP and one that was catalysed by the band’s retrospective tour back between 2016 – 2018 – a period the band have scathingly described as being a “masturbatory, self-congratulatory two-year thing”. This period of time saw them wanting to move away from the past, focusing on a new version of themselves that focuses on what they perceive to be more important issues – a version that we are about to bravely dive into, head first.
Despite the sonic metamorphosis – the band’s sound is noticeably different from anything you’ll have heard from them before – the chaotic opener ‘Forever Chemicals’, almost paradoxically, feels like coming home. Molko’s vocals are some of the most distinct in alternative music and you can’t help but be hit with forceful yet comforting recognition the moment he sings the album’s opening line.
This track is jarring and chaotic, leaning heavily on distorted guitars and synths that we’ll soon learn are a staple of this record. It’s here, too, that we’re introduced to the programmed drums that exist throughout the album and it’s a combination of these techniques that define ‘Never Let Me Go’. They bring Placebo steaming into 2022, allowing the duo to experiment and grow as artists, all the while maintaining their original foundations in what is very recognisably a Placebo record. While guitars may play the supporting role here, it’s not hard to follow the trail back to the band’s roots. But, in a world where making the same record twice simply won’t do, Molko and Olsdal have captured the best of everything people love about music in the modern world and wrapped it up beautifully in under an hour.
‘Never Let Me Go’, the band’s 8th full-length record, was almost entirely complete by the time the pandemic hit us in 2020, with a view of releasing it later in the year. By now, we’re so used to hearing jaded and cynical topics expressed by artists in a world plagued by the pandemic that it’s almost hard to believe that everything was just as terrible prior to that. This album acts as a harsh reminder that we’ve been descending into darkness for far longer than perhaps we care to consider, acting as a tool for Placebo to express thoughts and opinions through this incredible collection of tracks. It’s impossible to argue that the band’s revival is anything but explosive – they’re disillusioned, angry and just straight up sad, and they’ll be damned if they’re not gonna brazenly share their disdain with the world.
While thematically Placebo have left a lot of it up to the listener, with enough ambiguity in the lyrics that fans will be able to apply meaning to their own lives, the overarching concept of a doomed world – the “silent scream” of its inhabitants – cannot be ignored. You won’t find a happy ending in this record – it’s really bloody bleak – but you can rest assured that your fears and sadness and cynicism, at least, will be validated.
With five tracks clocking in at five minutes, and the rest not far behind, you’d expect there to be plenty of skippable moments to be found but it’s far easier to count those than it is to count the highlights. The overtly poppy, synth ‘Beautiful James’ – a track that will strike your very core, emotional in an indescribable way – stands out immediately as one to watch, while the orchestral foundations of ‘The Prodigal’, the ghostly vocals towards the end of ‘Happy Birthday in the Sky’ and the ethereal piano driven ‘This Is What You Wanted’ offer a much softer yet equally as impactful side to the record. There’s darkness to be found in ‘Surrounded by Spies’, while the contrast of lyrics versus sound in ‘Try Better Next Time’ is intriguing and confusing in a way that refuses to allow you to pass it by.
Placebo have created something to be proud of with ‘Never Let Me Go’. It’s sure to reignite a fire in the fans that have been around from the start, a quarter of a century ago, while equally piquing the interest of those previously ambivalent to the band’s music. It’s been a long wait but this album feels like the start of an epic resurgence from this duo and we’re elated to be along for the ride.
YASMIN BROWN