Having witnessed many an incendiary Savages live performance, a solo Jehnny Beth album was always going to pique my interest and “To Love is to Live,” released on Caroline Records and put together in London, Paris and Los Angeles largely lives up to expectations.
The French actress cum chanteuse always seemed a bit of a closed book when fronting her band, a veritable enigma in fact, combining furious femininity, noir aloofness, androgyny and raw aggression, perhaps belying a complex individual with more to offer when freed from the creative shackles of working with her three bandmates.
Lead single ‘I’m the Man’ oozes assertiveness with ambiguous sexuality, its proto-industrial sound one of many different textures Beth chooses to adopt on her debut long player. Jehnny’s sultry yet slightly frustrated vocal in ‘Flower’, combining obvious desire tinged with uncertainty; Beth’s self-assuredness only taking her so far as she muses ‘She loves me and I love her, I’m not sure how to please her’, confessional indeed.
With long time muse Johnny Hostile roped in, along with actor Cillian Murphy, lending his speaking voice on the short interlude ‘A Place Above’ and also IDLES Joe Talbot contributing on ‘How Could You’, it looks like Beth has many friends who are willing to collaborate on her records. Yet, it’s the softer solo effort, the wistful ‘French Countryside’ that proves Beth’s most interesting composition here, oozing tenderness and vulnerability, exquisite piano and strings create the perfect accompaniment as Beth begs her lover for forgiveness, all her cards placed firmly on the table and perhaps a sign of a new direction for future material.
Closer ‘Human’ takes Beth’s cinematic tendency to another level, protracted intro segues into a chaotically dark middle, redolent of immediately post Eno-era Roxy, a sort of deconstructed ‘Do the Strand’ if you like.
Beguiling.
Words - Mike Price
