Our editor’s pick of the albums reviewed on these pages during the past seven days is To Love Is To Live, the debut solo album from Savages’ Jehnny Beth – revisit the 8/10 review and check out the album via Spotify:
“When Camille Berthomier (for it is she) cited her band Savages as a ‘prison for creativity’ a few years ago, her comments were received with some raised eyebrows. Whilst the band’s oeuvre could certainly be categorised as post-punk with little resistance, that both albums were nominated for the Mercury suggested a tinge of artist pretension.”
“Regardless, the time it’s taken to release her debut solo album (four years) was a clear indicator that it would be a sonic departure. Despite a few extra-curricular distractions (collaborations with Julian Casablancas and Gorillaz, as well as her own online chat show), it feels like this album has been coming forever. However, it’s now plain to see that Beth has very obviously poured her heart, soul and mind into it, with a breadth of soundscapes that make her much more difficult to categorise.”
“Cinematic in scale and sound, the album starts and concludes with the ticking hands of a watch. On I Am, a deep voice eulogising (‘I am the voice that no-one can hear’) eventually gives way to Beth herself lamenting about repressed desires. It’s moody and string-led, setting the tone for the album. The ambient Humans is equally brooding but even more despondent; the album is designed to be a reflection of the struggles of femininity, but she repeats the earlier lyrics (‘I am naked all the time, I am burning inside’) as if to say that the cycle never stops.”