Hear “Flower” from Savages Singer Jehnny Beth’s Forthcoming Debut Solo Album To Love Is to Live
Photo by Steve Gullick Music News Jehnny Beth
Jehnny Beth of acclaimed post-punk group Savages announced her solo debut album Wednesday. To Love Is to Live will arrive May 8 via Caroline Records. The album has an interesting cast of collaborators, including production work from Flood, now-legendary film scorer Atticus Ross (Nine Inch Nails), and longtime collaborator and former bandmate Johnny Hostile. The album will also feature guests Romy Madley Croft (The xx), Cillian Murphy (Peaky Blinders) and Joe Talbot (IDLES).
Last year, Beth recorded a track for the Peaky Blinders soundtrack titled “I’m The Man.” Her new track, “Flower,” is her first solo track to be released since then. The song is spare yet tense, trembling with a film noir anxiousness. A minute in, the track is flushed with a chorus yelling, “she loves me and I love her / I’m not sure how to please her.” It’s anthemic and, as usual, it draws immediate comparisons to Siouxsie Sioux’s trademark intensity.
On Instagram, Beth notes the announcement comes as she’s on a train to visit her father, who has been in intensive care for some days. “When I started making this record all I could think about was the impermanence of life, that I had to do this before it’s too late, and here I am now sitting on a train telling you that my album is coming and it’s called TO LOVE IS TO LIVE,” she says. Above, you can see a spinning, grey model of Beth, nude and smooth like a work from Rodin. She continues, “Today those words resonate more than ever. There isn’t really anything else in life is it? only love, only love will remain.”
You can listen to “Flower” below, as well as take a look at the details of To Love Is to Live. Jehnny Beth has also announced a tour—the dates are further down below. We named Savages’ Silence Yourself one of the best punk albums of the 2010s. Check out where it fell here.
To Love Is to Die Album Art:
To Love Is to Die Tracklist:
01. I Am
02. Innocence
03. Flower
04. We Will Sin Together
05. A Place Above
06. I’m the Man
07. The Rooms
08. Heroine
09. How Could You
10. French Countryside
11. Human
Jehnny Beth Tour Dates:
March
08 – London, U.K. @ BBC 6 Music Festival
May
29 – London, U.K. @ All Points East Festival
31 – Kværndrup, Denmark @ Heartland Festival
June
02 – Hamburg, Germany @ Mojo
04 – Paris, France @ La Gaîté Lyrique
05 – Barcelona, Spain @ Primavera Festival
09 – Milan, Italy @ Magnolia
10 – Marina Di Ravena, Italy @ Beaches Brew Festival
12 – Porto, Portugal @ Primavera Festival
30 – Berlin, Germany @ Säälchen
July
03 – Ewjik, Netherlands @ Down the Rabbit Hole Festival
04 – Arras, France @ Main Square Festival 2020
15 – Minneapolis, Minn. @ The Varsity Theater
18 – Detroit, Mich. @ St. Andrews Hall
19 – Toronto, Ont. @ Danforth Music Hall
21 – Montreal, Que. @ Fairmount Theatre
22 – Boston, Mass. @ Brighton Music Hall
23 – Philadelphia, Pa. @ Theatre of the Living Arts
25 – New York, N.Y. @ Webster Hall
26 – Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club