The members of Savages have been off finding other creative outlets in the downtime since the English post-punk outfit’s last record. Following 2016’s impactful Adore Life, Fay Wilton and Ayse Hassan launched 180dB, while band leader Jehnny Beth has collaborated with the likes of Gorillaz and Trentemøller. Now, the frontwoman is trying her hand at a new endeavor: film scoring.
Beth has teamed with Savages producer (and her partner) Johnny Hostile to provide the soundtrack to XY Chelsea, a new documentary about Chelsea Manning. With the record coming out June 7th via Pop Noire, they’ve shared the lead single and closing credits track “Let It Out”. The track is perhaps a more grooving, synth-ier sound than Beth’s fans may be used to, but it still maintains some of her more gothic atmospheric tendencies.
In a statement about the song, Beth and Hostile said,
“It is about being inside Chelsea’s head at the moment she decides she won’t be hiding anymore. It’s a great moment of human bravery that can inspire anyone in this world to go beyond their own fear and accept who they are no matter the consequences.”
Take a listen below.
Pre-orders for the XY Chelsea soundtrack are now live. The film itself premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival after filmmakers were forced to make a last minute edit to reflect Manning’s recent situation. Manning was famously sentenced to 35 years in prison for leaking information about the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, a sentence she began in 2010. While incarcerated, she came out as transgender and began both her advocacy and her transition while in jail. President Obama commuted her sentence in 2017 near the end of his presidency; however, Manning was placed back behind bars in March when she refused to testify before a grande jury in the case against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
Showtime will debut the documentary on June 7th. Watch the trailer below.