When Brit-pop & Brit-rock were reigning in the nineties, Placebo offered something different, with their dark androgyny setting them apart – and ahead of their time (okay, not as ahead as Bowie in the seventies, but no one’s ever been as ahead of their time as Bowie…). Now, both darkness and gender fluidity are mainstream, fitting for the band to return with Never Let Me Go.
Never is distinctly a Placebo record in their distinctive way. There’s the electro-grand Placebo of “Beautiful James” and stratospheric “Chemtrails”. There’s the classic cutting Placebo with “Hugz” and “Try Better Next Time”. And there’s their subdued darkness on the closing trio, “This Is What You Wanted”, “Went Missing”, and “Fix Yourself”.
The first Placebo release since 2013’s Loud Like Love (QRO review), Never Let Me Go is more a return than a reinvention. And now the world’s caught up with them.
