Unadorned, often unaccompanied save for acoustic or electric guitar, and by turns terrifyingly intimate and intensely rich, Anna B Savage’s singing has a florid, balletic tone that Rolling Stone rightly labelled “unforgettable”. Daughter of two professional classical singers, she could easily have followed in their footsteps but chose pop and poetry instead. Savage is an excellent lyricist, sketching spare and unforgiving vignettes, mulling over romantic illusion and disillusion, a writer’s fear of the page, and the consolations of a bullet vibrator.
After a promising EP in 2015, the London-born singer-songwriter became unsure of her way forward, struggling with imposter syndrome and other ills, pretty much abandoning music until her 2021 debut album, A Common Turn (there are at least four puns in its title), with its arresting, devastating singles Corncrakes and Baby Grand.
Lately, since a move to Dublin, songs have massed around her, and this month promises a less sparse sequel, in|FLUX, alongside an intriguing half-spoken feature on Orbital’s Optical Delusion album. Savage says in|FLUX is “an exploration of recovery and the journey of therapy”. Those travels have softened some of the sharper edges of her songs, although most remain pointed at a silent, wayward interlocutor (ex? lover? friend? all three? It’s rarely clear). Still, it’s a treat to hear her happier and more self-assured on The Orange, bursting with the same placid joy as its namesake, the delightful Wendy Cope poem.
in|FLUX is released on 17 February via City Slang. Anna B Savage tours from 20 February
