“Jehnny Beth is like a work of fiction. If you could draw her from scratch, you would not wish to alter a single stroke of her shape as a character. When she plays live, she walks out into the crowd across a sea of outstretched hands (Google it!) and she looks like my Joan of Arc. She talks about her love of moshpits, dangerous sex (in her lyrics, and a new book of short stories) and of emancipation.” – Mary Anne Hobbs, Grazia
Today, songwriter, singer, and author Jehnny Beth releases her debut solo album, a sonic tour de force entitled To Love Is To Live. The record was recorded in Los Angeles, London, and Paris, and features a number of collaborators, including producers Flood, Atticus Ross, and longtime co-creator Johnny Hostile. It also features guest turns from The xx’s Romy Madley Croft, actor Cillian Murphy, and IDLES’ Joe Talbot.
The album’s release comes with a short film by acclaimed creative studio Hingston Studio, who also collaborated with Jehnny Beth on the record’s powerful cover art, for the song “We Will Sin Together.”
“We Will Sin Together” is music video as film; high-art pop seamlessly blending sound and vision. Focused on an intimate encounter of male and female alter egos exploring pleasure, power and transformation, the film also features religious and mythological iconography throughout. Over five individual scenes, subtle references to specific moments in Catholic, Roman and Greek narratives are made – the Virgin Mary; Cupid and Psyche; Pluto and Proserpina; Michael and Lucifer; and Satyr and Hermaphroditus. The short film combines 3D capture of Jehnny Beth taken from the original album photo session by Hingston Studio, alongside motion capture shot in early March.
“The embodiment of different voices, and this whole notion of embracing the masculine and feminine characteristics of identity was the main starting point for us,” explains creative director Tom Hingston, who has previously worked with David Bowie, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Grace Jones, and more. “The record has an attitude and a driving intent – there is a rawness from her lyrics and the production which doesn’t sound like anything you’ve heard before.”
Praise for To Love Is To Live:
"To Love Is to Live is an eerie, almost cinematic experience...[Jehnny] has continued to evolve into a multi-hyphenate talent." - New York Times
"...if “Flower” is any indication, her upcoming solo LP, To Love Is to Live, will be a dusky, expressionistic affair — the kind, like with “Flower,” that begs you to keep listening. And if it’s like “Flower,” it’ll be worth it." - Rolling Stone
“’To Love Is To Live’ is an in your face experience…Jehnny Beth has an undeniable power.” – MOJO
“It’s impossible not to be in awe of Jehnny Beth.” - Gigwise
“Beth immersed listeners in a world that felt dystopian but ultimately encouraged escapism.” - Evening Standard
“Experimental and provocative.” - Crack Magazine
“‘To Love Is To Live’ is broad, spanning industrial noise, dissonant jazz and eerie ballardry.” - Guardian
“Gothic pop, electronic ambience and haunting ballardry.” - Q
"...an industrial post-punk track that is equal parts enveloping and off-putting. “I’m The Man” is heavy, shocking, and very, very exciting." - UPROXX
"Sonically, we’re in visceral, industrial punk territory, with a little piano interlude to let you catch your breath." - Brooklyn Vegan
"["Flower"] is spare yet tense, trembling with a film noir anxiousness...It’s anthemic and, as usual, it draws immediate comparisons to Siouxsie Sioux’s trademark intensity." - Paste Magazine
"“Heroine”, brings a more melodic air to the affair...the Savages singer hasn’t taken her foot off the post-punk pedal for this one — not at all. But with warped jazz horns and undulating baking vocals swirling together over propellant drums, there’s a more hypnotic thrust here." - Consequence of Sound
"["Flower"] builds from a slow-creeping pulse to a rippling, serrated electronic rock track that wrings its power from tension and release." - Stereogum
"“Flower” is a hauntingly seductive piece." - Aupium
"Beth’s debut solo album, To Love Is To Live, is a cathartic blast of beauty and darkness that exemplifies everything you would expect from this dynamic visionary." - Northern Transmissions
"Cacophony and bravado briefly give way to tenderness in “I’m the Man,” a solo blast from Jehnny Beth of Savages. Drums slam hard, stopping and starting, and electronics screech and sputter and blare, hurtling ahead as Beth channels male arrogance. But there are second thoughts: The beat vanishes, hazy keyboard chords waft up, and Beth turns to crooning...But that’s only temporary, perhaps too vulnerable; at the end, the noisy armor comes crashing back." - The New York Times
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