Alexandra Savior - Belladonna of Sadness (2017)

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Alexandra Savior - Belladonna of Sadness (2017)

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Alexandra Savior is a newly discovered gem. When I found out about her, I was completely hooked with her new single 'Shades', doing more research about her, found out that she is Alex Turner's new muse. Last summer, a demo of a song called ‘Risk’ started getting played on True Detective’s second series. In the Discogs credits on the True Detective soundtrack, ‘Risk’ lists its composers as Savior and Alex Turner, with the Arctic Monkeys and Last Shadow Puppets man apparently playing drums, keyboards and guitar on the track, as well as engineering it.

Shades is the first officially released single by Alexandra Savior. It came out on June 17th, 2016. As one can hear, it was co-written by Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys), (The Last Shadow Puppets), and Turner even played guitar and bass. Zach Dawes (Mini Mansions) and James Ford (Simian Mobile Disco), (The Last Shadow Puppets) also contributed on bass, and drums and piano, respectively. The song is one the last one written for Alexandra’s album and she stated in an interview with NME that this was written out of the need for a more upbeat song on the record.

On her upcoming debut album Strange Portrait, Oregon-bred singer and songwriter Alexandra Savior grapples with questions of identity. With her first single “Mirage,” Savior sings from the point of view of Anna-Marie Mirage, an alter ego who “paints her teardrops on” and “sings songs about whatever the fuck they want”. Savior explores the gaps between her own identities through piercing lyrics that she delivers in a languid, world-weary voice and sets against a minimalist, noir-pop backdrop created with her collaborator, singer Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys, The Last Shadow Puppets), with whom she co-wrote nearly all of the songs; Turner produced the album with James Ford, who has worked with Arctic Monkeys, Jessie Ware, and Florence and the Machine, among others.

The lush late-‘60s/early-'70s sound is the perfect backdrop for an affecting album that details the self-doubt that arises from being thrust into an industry where everyone seems perfect. “I think a lot of the album is about the social anxiety that’s followed me throughout my life,” she says. “The songs are me residing in that fantasy life where I am this perfect creature I’m supposed to be.”