Jehnny Beth – ‘You Heartbreaker, You’ album review: Performance, energy, and raw power
Once in a blue moon, a record comes along that you connect with instantly; that doesn’t take any time to ‘grow on you’ and doesn’t require deep reflection and interpretation to truly ‘get’.
These are the albums which are built on feeling; an atavistic outburst of energy and emotion which cannot help but resonate with audiences. Jehnny Beth’s masterful new effort, You Heartbreaker, You, establishes that feeling from the moment the needle clicks into the groove.
If you are reading this review, you are more than likely already familiar with Jehnny Beth’s extensive repertoire of inventive, infectious, and often abrasive work. From the heavy post-punk mastery of Savages to her various collaborations with the likes of Gorillaz, Idles, and Bobby Gillespie, among countless others, Beth, like a punk rock shark, has been constantly moving forward. You Heartbreaker, You reflects perhaps her most ambitious work yet, following on from 2020’s solo record To Love Is To Live, but that ambition certainly pays off.
From the raw aggression of the opening number, ‘Broken Rib’, Beth’s distinctive vocals act as a guide through a vast range of sounds and atmospheres, drawing upon everything from Beth’s post-punk past to shoegaze and even hardcore at points. The mood of this record is not necessarily a departure from Beth’s previous work, but it certainly feels like the rapid evolution and diversification of previous projects.
At the same time, though, each individual track is united by an unwavering vision of resistance, and unleashing all of your inner-most energy out into the world. “I really wanted a singular vision for the record. Like to have no distraction, being very focused, and for the record to have its unity sound wise,” Beth revealed to me during a recent interview with Far Out, and that singular vision certainly presents itself over the course of the track listing, with the aid of Beth’s regular collaborator, Johnny Hostile, and his incredible production and co-writing on the album.
Crucially, the album feels imbued with the energy of live performance. Beth has spoken openly about how the record was carved out onstage through various gigs and performances, and that atmosphere of being in a cramped, sweaty room, letting off the steam of ordinary life, is rife throughout the tracklisting of You, Heartbreaker, You.
It is an utterly cathartic, energising listening experience, and that experience does not dull with repeated listens.
Defining track: ‘Obsession’
For fans of: Listening to the loudest, most aggressively-charged music while on your daily commute to an office block.
A concluding comment from a 6Music dad: “Such an energetic album, I can’t wait to see it live so I can stand stoically still in the front row and look miserable throughout.”
Release date: August 29th, 2025 | Producer: Johnny Hostile | Label: Fiction Records
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