Savages’ Jehnny Beth Reveals Video For ‘Flower’, Announces Release Of Book ‘Crimes Against Love Manifesto’ (C.A.L.M)

Songwriter, singer, and multi-disciplinary artist Jehnny Beth has released a brilliant video for her new song, ‘Flower’, today.  The video, which was helmed by acclaimed director Anthony Byrne (Peaky Blinders), is Jehnny Beth’s second cinematic collaboration with Byrne; the first was the video for ‘I’m The Man’, which was lauded by the New York Times for its “bravado and tenderness.”

‘Flower’ sees Jehnny Beth heading in completely different sonic territory to “I’m The Man,” taming the former’s tempestuous pulse into something simmering and sensual.  Written about a pole dancer at notorious strip club Jumbo’s Clown Room in Los Angeles, ‘Flower’ details the complicated depths of sexuality tangled in a fever dream reverie of desire and loss.

‘Flower’ is one of many incredible songs on Jehnny Beth’s recently announced solo album, To Love Is To Live, on May 8th, 2020 via Caroline Records.  The record, which was recorded in Los Angeles, London, and Paris, features a number of collaborators, including producers Flood, Atticus Ross, longtime co-creator Johnny Hostile, and Adam ‘Cecil’ Bartlett, and guest turns from The xx’s Romy Madley Croft, actor Cillian Murphy, and IDLES’ Joe Talbot.

In addition to releasing ‘To Love Is To Live’ this spring, Jehnny Beth will also be releasing Crimes Against Love Manifesto (C.A.L.M.), her first book featuring a collection of her erotic short stories along with photography from Johnny Hostile, on June 11, 2020 via White Rabbit. The book is a collaboration with longtime creative partner Johnny Hostile, whose photographs punctuate Jehnny Beth’s stories. C.A.L.M. looks set to establish Jehnny Beth and Johnny Hostile as two of the bravest and most provocative voices in fiction and erotic art today. See below for the C.A.L.M manifesto and order the book HERE.

C.A.L.M.
Crimes Against Love Manifesto because a life lived in fear is equal to no life at all
I won’t gamble our existence on the fickle world of ‘what will they think’
and wake up one day thinking I have wasted the wonderful fact of my own existence
I won’t worry about fear, jealousy, solitude
the system that weighs duty against desire and pronounces desire the looser
they’re all byproducts of love
unavoidable obstacles implanted in our core
by generations of parents, grand-parents and all the people
who fall in love and yet are unhappy
and who blaming themselves for having lived too timidly
will attack me for having dared
I live on the other side of their wall
I break through their rules of loving
searching for my own alternative ways
no matter the morals agreed collectively
the prudishness and punishments
the accepted forms of loving, family, monogamy
and far too much imprisonment
in secret, in the safety of my apartment, inside our heads
I will create a space where they don’t belong
a place where I am free
my neighbours won’t know about it
my family won’t know about it
and those who think they can be part of it
but haven’t made the sacrifice
are not welcome
there, I will practise my secret rituals
with those who have defeated their fears
days and nights, out of sight and silently

Best known as the charismatic lead singer and co-writer of UK band Savages, who received Mercury Prize nominations for both of their now-classic two albums Silence Yourself (2013) and Adore Life (2016), Jehnny Beth’s voice, lyrical perspective, and incredible live performances have captivated audiences since the early Aughts.  But it’s in To Love Is To Live that Jehnny Beth truly steps into – and claims – the spotlight.  The album is a sonic tour de force, a dark cinematic meditation on the strange business of being alive. Throughout the record, she explores the deepest reaches of her creative consciousness…wrapped in a whirlwind of sounds.  Indeed, in accessing those darkest and least comfortable parts of herself, Jehnny Beth has created a piece of work that is stunningly cathartic, fiercely abrasive, delicately exposed, and rich for discourse.

From subverting power balances (“I’m The Man”) to marrying dense textures with stark instrumentation (“The Rooms”) to walking the thin line between the sacred and the profane to explore existential themes (“French Countryside”), To Love Is To Live sees Jehnny Beth giving her intense vulnerability a glorious voice – musically and lyrically — like no one else making music today.  Which is to say: