Multi-disciplinary artist Jehnny Beth — singer-songwriter, TV presenter, radio host, and actor — unveils her latest long-player, You Heartbreaker, You.
Recorded and produced with longtime collaborator Johnny Hostile at their 20L07 studio in France, the record is raw, immediate, and unflinching, reflecting a world teetering on the edge of collapse. Beth frames the album’s intensity succinctly: “We’re living in a dark time, full of drama and barbarous tragedy. It became clear to me that, in these times, we either learn how to scream really well, or we learn how to whisper.”
Beth first made her mark as the commanding frontwoman of post-punk outfit Savages, whose two acclaimed albums Silence Yourself and Adore Life carved her reputation as a ferocious performer. Her 2020 debut solo album, To Love Is To Live, introduced a more intimate, multifaceted voice. With You Heartbreaker, You, Beth plunges even deeper — grappling with the psychic wounds of modern existence, using love as a primal form of release.
The nine-track set opens with “Broken Rib,” a brutal yet hypnotic piece that rolls out on a grinding riff faintly reminiscent of Tool. Propulsive drums and serrated guitars frame Beth’s shifting vocals, moving between guttural howls and hushed confessionals. It’s a striking entry point that sets the tone for what follows. “Out Of My Reach” pulses with a dark, rumbling undercurrent that erupts into jagged, punk-driven choruses. Beth’s voice, equal parts spectral and venomous, feels like a modern Medusa — luring, then petrifying.
“Reality” leans into industrial-punk abrasion, its grinding textures slicing the mix like razor wire. Beth’s vocal delivery — sharp, confrontational, and unyielding — pushes the track into cathartic chaos. On “High Resolution Sadness,” a glitchy opening gives way to a ferocious, full-throttle rhythm drenched in distorted guitars. It captures the sensation of navigating a fragmented, overstimulated world — a buzzing storm of information and anxiety with no clear resolution.
Throughout the record, Beth remains fearless, confronting love, loss, and disillusionment with unsparing candour: “Your rules of love / Are different from / My twisted mind / Sitting in a corner / Yeah, it could be sexier / If you went down on me / But no one ever loves me.”
Uncompromising, destabilising, and electric, You Heartbreaker, You finds Jehnny Beth gripping the throat of the present moment and shaking it with animal force. It’s not an easy listen — nor should it be. Instead, it’s an urgent reminder of why we need artists willing to scream and whisper when the world demands both.
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