IN REVIEW
Jehnny Beth
You Heartbreaker, You
Out August 29th on Fiction Records
Reviewer - D. Weddle
Jehnny Beth has made a triumphant return with her sophomore album 'You Heartbreaker, You. Jehnny has never been one to follow the crowd and has always given us a sound that is uniquely hers, with Savages it was a wall of sound, pure intensity, and now on her second solo album she’s pulling that same energy into a different shape. 'You Heartbreaker, You' is not a record that has any intention of letting you settle down with a cuppa to relax, it lurches, pulls back, goes quiet, then suddenly kicks out again, making sure that you are thoroughly rocked by the time it ends, and has you reaching for the replay button when it does.
The opener Broken Rib is the first punch. It comes in rough with sharp edges everywhere, her voice cutting through with a rawness filled with the perfect amount of angst to create a sound that really moves you . It kicks of with a proper scream, controlled and matching the emotion of the lyrics perfectly. You expect the rest of the album to carry on in that vein, but track two flips it. Out goes the nineties grunge-like fuzz, in comes a colder electronic beat, still aggressive but in a different way.
The opener Broken Rib is the first punch. It comes in rough with sharp edges everywhere, her voice cutting through with a rawness filled with the perfect amount of angst to create a sound that really moves you . It kicks of with a proper scream, controlled and matching the emotion of the lyrics perfectly. You expect the rest of the album to carry on in that vein, but track two flips it. Out goes the nineties grunge-like fuzz, in comes a colder electronic beat, still aggressive but in a different way.
Photo by: Johnny Hostile
Some of the songs feel like, at times, they’re holding back a shed load of energy that could just burst out at any second, like 'Reality' which has a lush riff to start with and Jehnny's vocals start off low and laid back, almost whimsical before the chorus where you almost feel like you've been hit with a wall of sound. Then you've got 'I See Your Pain' which has the same tension building formula which is just a joy to listen to.
“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,” Jehnny says of the record, and that definitely comes through in the lyrics and overall feeling that the music fills you with, lots of ups and downs emotionally, with plenty of aggression and some cracking, heavy as you like instrumentals.
What Jehnny Beth does do with 'You Heartbreaker, You', is put you right in that space between chaos and control, where anger and tenderness sit uncomfortably next to each other. Definitely one to check out. Listen/Preorder here.
“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,” Jehnny says of the record, and that definitely comes through in the lyrics and overall feeling that the music fills you with, lots of ups and downs emotionally, with plenty of aggression and some cracking, heavy as you like instrumentals.
What Jehnny Beth does do with 'You Heartbreaker, You', is put you right in that space between chaos and control, where anger and tenderness sit uncomfortably next to each other. Definitely one to check out. Listen/Preorder here.
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