While Jehnny Beth has pushed back the release of her debut solo album To Love is To Live to June 12, she’s not holding back on sharing new material from it. Following up the brilliant recent single “Innocence”, she has today unleashed “Heroine”, which sees her teaming with Flood. She gives us some detailed back story, saying:
““When I think of this song, I think of Romy from the xx strangling my neck with her hands in the studio. She was trying to get me out of my shell lyrically, and there was so much resistance in me she lost her patience. The song was originally called Heroism, but I wasn’t happy because it was too generic. Flood was the first one to suggest to say Heroine instead of Heroism. Then I remember Johnny Hostile late at night in my hotel room in London saying, “I don’t understand who you are singing about. Who is the Heroine? You ARE the Heroine”. The next morning, I arrived early in the studio and recorded my vocals adding ‘to be’ to the chorus line: “all I want is TO BE a heroine”. Flood entered the studio at that moment and jumped in the air giving me the thumbs up through the window. I guess I’m telling this story because sometimes we look around for role models, and examples to follow, without realising that the answer can be hidden inside of us. I was afraid to be the Heroine of the song, but it took all the people around me to get me there.”
It seems that even though she’s dissolved Savages to go solo, her new material is still very much a collaborative effort, and by working with all these musicians from different backgrounds she’s finding a beautiful new middle ground for herself. “Heroine” uses her unflinching voice to cast some light on her desires, which opens her vulnerabilities without losing any of the preternatural strength she possesses. Around her, beats rattle and dissolve, synths glisten with menace and piano drips in with perfect poise to set the whole thing off.
Jehnny Beth’s debut solo album To Love is To Live comes out June 12 on 20L07 Music. She’s also put out a new episode of her TV show Echoes with Jehnny Beth, which features King Krule, Nilüfer Yanya and Beak> – watch it here.
You can follow Jehnny Beth on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
