Marianne Faithfull and Warren Ellis Announce New Collaborative Album ‘She Walks In Beauty’

Marianne Faithfull and The Bad Seeds’ Warren Ellis have announced a new collaborative album called She Walks In Beauty. It’s due out April 30 via BMG and features contributions from Nick Cave, Brian Eno, and more. Below, check out the album’s cover artwork and tracklist.

Recorded at her home in London before and during the first COVID-19 lockdown with PJ Harvey’s producer Head, the album was inspired by Faithfull’s love of English Romantic poets including Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats, William Wordsworth, and more. In a statement, she revealed that the album came to fruition partly thanks to her friend and manager Francois Ravar, explaining, “It was Francois who put it together and made it happen, and it was him who persuaded Warren to commit, which was really difficult because Warren’s doing so many things.” Ravard added: “Marianne had a wonderful idea for this poetry record, and she wanted to do it straight away. I loved the idea immediately, and I called Head and asked him to go to Marianne to record her readings.”

Ellis composed the music for Faithfull’s vocals from his studio in Paris. “I didn’t think of them as songs, I wasn’t locked into melodies or chords,” he said. “I could take incredible liberties. It wasn’t about creating something that had to follow the text or outline it – it was free in that respect. The important thing was that it didn’t get in the way.”

She Walks in Beauty follows Marianne Faithfull’s 2018 album Negative Capability. “I wasn’t in doubt – I’ve been thinking about it for so long, this album, it’s been in my head for so long, I think I really knew exactly what I wanted,” she explained. “I just picked the poems I really loved, and I can’t help but say I think I was very lucky. We got it.”

She Walks in Beauty Cover Artwork:

She Walks in Beauty Tracklist:

1. She Walks in Beauty (Lord Byron)
2. The Bridge of Sighs (Thomas Hood)
3. La Belle Dame sans Merci (John Keats)
4. Ode to a Nightingale (John Keats)
5. To Autumn (John Keats)
6. Ozymandias (Percy Bysshe Shelley)
7. The Prelude: Book One Introduction (William Wordsworth)
8. Surprised by Joy (William Wordsworth)
9. To The Moon (Percy Bysshe Shelley)
10. So We’ll Go No More a Roving (Lord Byron)
11. The Lady of Shallot (Lord Alfred Tennyson)