Bernard Butler (ex-Suede) announces first solo album in 25 years, shares new song 'Camber Sands'

Bernard Butler (ex-Suede) announces first solo album in 25 years, shares new song 'Camber Sands'

Good Grief Out May 31st via 355 Recordings

March 27, 2024

By Mark Redfern

Bernard Butler was the guitarist in Britpop legends Suede on their first two albums and was also in McAlmont & Butler, among other projects, but has just announced his first new solo album in 25 years. Good Griefand shared his first single, “Camber Sands.” Good Grief will be released on May 31st via 355 Recordings. Check out the single below, followed by the album's tracklist. Above is the cover.

In 2022, Butler collaborated with acclaimed actress Jessie Buckley for the album, For all our heartbreaking days. He was a founding member of Suede and played on their self-titled 1993 debut and 1994 all-time classic Dog Man Star (as well as the many amazing B-sides of their era). After leaving Suede he released two albums as part of the musical duo McAlmont & Butler with singer David McAlmont. In 2004 Butler reunited with Suede's Brett Anderson to form The Tears, who released an album in 2005 Here come the tears. He has also worked as a producer with various artists. But Butler has only released two solo albums, 1998's People Move On and of 1999 Friends and Lovers.

Butler had this to say about the album in a statement: “For a good while, I was scarred and scared. I was happily distracted and happy with so much music. I realized just being there was more than I ever hoped for. I gave a lot to other people, but I realized that my story was defined by who I was, rather than who I am. I set myself a modest commercial goal, an aspirational creative goal: Run to 10 people without bottling, then find 11 the next night. Thus began the removal of my own embarrassment. I would write as I thought and sing as I wrote until the bottles flew. And so the songs arrived.

“For years and years, I've drawn straight lines from North London to every coastline I could see. For life-weary Londoners, escape is the dream and return likely. The story I found was not the sea but the journey. Camber Sands, Mersea Island, Dunwich, or a dozen other horizons of possibility, the sea and the sea walls and the endless return to face the city. 'Camber Sands' is a love song – we leave the past, the present, ourselves, to survive, to defy. The loneliest music of decisive, semi-light, and saddest tunes.”

Good Grief Track List: