The London singer-songwriter’s cleverly titled, superb debut is bird-themed, exquisitely beautiful and intimate. It exposes her rich, deep, velvety voice, one that gently warbles snd smoothly soars from a nest of various mostly acoustic strings. If any comparisons are to be made to her very distinctive delivery and music, it is something akin to a higher Jeff Buckley, Anohni, Anna Calvi, or a particularly tone occasionally tuned into by Aldous Harding. That said, Savage is still unique, not only in sound, but also in lyrics, meandering confessional expressions of vulnerability, with first-person narratives and with structures that flitter and build like jittery flight, often away from conventional choruses and verses. Standout tracks include Dead Pursuits, the powerful A Common Turn, Corncrakes, and Baby Grand, all full of surprisingly odd, drily humorous, wonderful details, such as in the latter an off-the-cuff reference to Edwyn Collins, the writing process, and confusing encounters of platonic love, before the song swells into a passion, while sexual intimacy is explored more personally in Chelsea Hotel #3 where out of nowhere, we suddenly picture Tim Curry. The sixth track, Two, even explodes into a passage of electronica. But every song is a gem, and in an album filled with surprises and extraordinarily oddball beauty, Savage is a turn who is in fact, extremely uncommon. Produced by William Doyle. Utterly gorgeous. Out on City Slang.
Feel free to also check out our favourite albums of 2020 here:
Fiona Apple to Lianne La Havas to Yves Tumor: favourite albums of 2020 – Part 1
Agnes Obel to Bob Dylan, Phoebe Bridgers to Sault: favourite albums of 2020 – Part 2
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