Jehnny Beth has released the music video for her new single French Countryside. The single is from her critically-acclaimed debut solo album To Love Is To Live, which came out last year. The music video was filmed and directed by Johnny Hostile in their studio in France.
Jehnny took to social media to announce the video, saying; “NEW VIDEO Most of you have said ur favourite song on the album is FRENCH COUNTRYSIDE— well today u can watch the video filmed and directed by @johnnyhostilephoto”
Speaking about French Countryside, which he wrote with Romy Madley Croft and Johnny Hostile, Jehnny said in a press release; “This is the song that caused me the most issues. Up until the last week of mixing we didn’t have a version I was happy with, but I am very proud of it now. I almost didn’t put it on the record because it is so close to the bone it almost feels too self indulgent, but it was my intention to write a song that felt more vulnerable than anything I had ever written before.”
“Romy was a huge influence for me to be able to do that. It’s a promise song, I wrote the verses on a plane as I was convinced it was going to crash. I was making promises to myself about what I was going to do differently if I survived. Death has been very present in my mind during the process of writing this record. It all started around Bowie’s death.”
Romy also spoke in the press release about how the first few lines of the song were so instantly visual and different to anything she had ever heard Jenny say before so it became a beautiful place for them to write from. She also said hearing the album version made her cry. The song allows Jehnny to completely drop her guard as she invites the listener in to see her vulnerable side.
To Love Is To Live was released in June 2020. It was recorded in Los Angeles, London and Paris and features a number of collaborations, including producers Flood, Atticus Ross and Johnny Hostile. It also features actor Cillian Murphy, IDLES’ Joe Talbot and of course, The XX’s Romy Madley Croft. The album received a warm reception and received wonderful reviews include a 7.7/10 from Pitchfork and 9/10 from Clash.
Jehnny has also released her debut collection of short stories Crimes Against Love Memories (C.A.L.M), alongside a limited edition art book of photographs taken by Johnny Hostile in July 2020 via White Rabbit. The books were both designed by Brian Roettinger from Willo Perron studio. The stories are a collection of erotic monologues and dialogues, with the aim “to arouse and enlighten.”
French Countryside is available on all platforms, you can check out the brand new video down below.
