Jehnny Beth - TO LOVE IS TO LIVE (Review)
Underground indie legend and frontwoman of the Savages, Jehnny Beth comes through with her debut solo album...
12th June 2020
Independent
My Rating:
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8.5/10
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REVIEW
Underground indie legend and frontwoman of the Savages, Jehnny Beth comes through with her debut solo album, bringing together a host of disjointed ideas into dark, industrial infused soundscapes. It's a helter skelter ride crossing many genres and subjects, perhaps failing to deliver on a consistent narrative but certainly offering multiple windows to see within the darkest corners of Jehnny's mind.
Firstly, I've got to commend the sound design and textures across this album. In spite of the wild, chaotic structure and how mismatched they are, the sounds and performances of this album provide a constantly intriguing atmosphere, an atmosphere that remains gloomy and ominous regardless of the style. For me, this is where the album succeeds in comparison to something like The 1975's latest album: where that record's songs were uncommitted replicas of a wide range of styles that the band failed to immerse themselves in or pull creatively from, Jehnny Beth is able to bring these very different sounds together.
This intriguing collage comes to characterise the album's musical schizophrenia, but it also contributes to the themes of deep, unsettling inner conflict and confusion. It's a well executed reflection of lyrics that focus on how Jehnny's many emotions are pullying her apart, afflicting her with a strange morbidity that is once again perfectly represented by the chaotic instrumentals. This comes hand in hand with a lot of self reflection, but perhaps not enough self improvement, and this concept being the crux of the album thematically is what binds it together musically, and helps it to achieve what it sets out to do.
The incredibly eerie atmosphere of opener "I Am" is a cold crescendo that leads to a piano mantra half way through, Jehnny's voice dominated the second half and giving a strained performance that sounds as if she's fighting for control with the instrumental itself. It's a moment of sensational self awareness, an epic first impression before the album changes pace for the heavy hitter that is "Innocence", a song that's verses feature some of the most jagged, industrial production whilst the chorus is an unbalanced yet more conventional piano backed affair, before it too is swallowed up by the increasing clutter of the verses. I mean that as a huge compliment
Later on the album, the bombastic "I'm The Man" is a song that employs some of the least subtle satire I've ever heard, a burning rage fuelling this one as Jehnny does what Foals did on "Black Bull" but, like, ironically and not as an embarrassing exploit of macho masculinity. Anyway, after this "The Rooms" spends half its runtime reeling from the abusive might of "I'm The Man", before Jehnny takes the mic just as she did on the opening track, lamenting on our social climate. Both of these songs are firmly coming from a female experience, but what makes them interesting is the perspective shift between them that allows the pairing to work so well.
I would be lying if I said this album didn't get lost in itself at times, the winding instrumentals and dark, cinematic atmopsheres often collapsing in on themselves and failing to deliver on conventional song structures or progressions, but that's exactly the point. Yes, this is a dark album and yes, I understand the vocal delivery and instrumental noncohesion are not for everyone, but if you give this album the time it deserves it might just grow on you. It certainly did for me.
TRACK RATINGS (/10)
1. I Am - 9
2. Innocence - 8
3. Flower - 9
4. We Will Sin Together - 8
5. A Place Above - n/a
6. I'm The Man - 7
7. The Rooms - 8
8. Heroine - 8
9. How Could You - 8
10. French Countryside - 9
11. Human - 8
BREAKDOWN
Ambition: 8
Atmosphere: 9
Catchiness/Enjoyability: 8
Content/Ideas: 9
Emotion/Engaging: 10
Execution: 9
Production: 8
Structure: 8
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Lyrics: 8
Vocals/Flows: 8
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Total: 85
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