Jehnny Beth - To Love Is to Live

The Guardian 80

(Caroline Records)
Moving between vulnerability and aggression, Beth’s album contains multitudes, from sex to cinematic washes, ballads to thrash, released with a collection of erotic stories

Jehnny Beth is best known as the frontwoman of Savages: the always monochromatic, post-punk four-piece whose dissonant debut album was nominated for the Mercury prize back in 2013. Beth herself grew up in the French countryside – her real name is Camille Berthomier – but moved to London in her 20s to pursue music. With Savages, who released their last record in 2016, she was electrifying – though she recently told the Guardian that the band eventually became a “prison for creativity”. The more successful they became, the more she felt caged. Now, with her debut solo album To Love Is to Live, she makes herself defiantly uncategorisable. 

Related: Jehnny Beth of Savages: 'Sex is a wonderful way to test yourself'

Pitchfork 77

With livewire intensity, the Savages singer-songwriter’s ambitious and experimental solo album explodes with life from every corner as an epic display of contrasting themes and emotion.

The Guardian 60

(Caroline)
The Savages frontwoman goes solo with an accompanying erotic short story collection

Camille “Jehnny Beth” Berthomier spent the 00s fronting Savages, a post-punk outfit dedicated to discomfort and artistic provocation. The solo Jehnny Beth continues to strut, glare and finger the uncomfortable places.

Accompanying the release of her debut solo album is an illustrated collection of erotic short stories, CALM: Crimes Against Love Memories, whose preface rails against societal restraints on women’s desire while embracing the sovereignty of the imagination. To Love Is to Live is delivered in the same breath, so to speak.