Review: Savages Frontwoman Jehnny Beth's Solo LP 'To Love Is to Live'
Beth opens the record with the words “I am naked all the time,” spoken in a deep, alien voice — as if it represents her id — and it might as well be her manifesto as she excavates her innermost thoughts in a stream of consciousness manner for the next 40 minutes. That track, “I Am,” blossoms with filmic strings that swell around her voice, as she howls, “I am young and innocent, but I’m burning inside.
The way she assumes other perspectives — really just different sides of herself — is what makes the record compelling. She has said that despite coming out as bisexual in the past, “Flower,” with its slow-building strip-club soundtrack, is her first love song for a woman.
The record is also capable of poignant moments when she relaxes her guard, like “Heroine,” which sports a sublime chorus and finds her singing “All I want is to be the woman you never see,” and “French Countryside,” a gorgeous love song that proves her voice can pair as beautifully with piano as with static. “All my life I’ve been hanging around the wrong places,” she croons on the latter tune, “And on my life I’m here at last telling you I am changing.
Before “Human” is over, though, she smartly returns to her original theme — “I am naked all the time … I am sorry for my mistakes” — and her sense of disorder and regret makes sense again. The way Beth took an inventory of her emotions, her shortcomings, and her strengths seems like a path to madness, so it’s a wonder she was able to come out on the other side ofPopular on Rolling Stone
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