Mark Corcoran-Lettice revels in a brilliantly wilful release on Marianne Faithful’s 21st record
BMG
Released: 02.11.18
The established playbook for artists of a certain vintage these days is to pump out records full of respectable, gravelly ballads and contemporary covers to prove their hip status – the Rick Rubin model, essentially. Marianne Faithfull’s twenty-first record might be filled with stark, dimming-of-the-light folk, but she’s always been far too brilliantly wilful and bloody minded to go with the herd, and as such Negative Capability boasts the same puckish charm and boldness of her finest work.
Backed by star collaborators including Nick Cave, Warren Ellis and Ed Harcourt, Faithful tackles grief, lost love and physical infirmity with the same steely, unflinching eye as ever. Her voice audibly cracking over closer No Moon In Paris, Faithful achieves a hard-fought dignity far beyond her former peers.
