Marianne

These days, Aarre Merikanto (1893–1958) is one of the best-known early 20th century modernists in Finnish classical music. In his early years, he composed in the National Romantic style, but by the time he was 23, he had developed a much more progressive style. By the beginning of the 1920s, he was writing in a modern, free-tonal musical language with a strong focus on timbral colour. Merikanto himself considered his “radical” style to be innate, but we know he was in fact inspired by Debussy and Scriabin, and especially Sibelius’ Fourth Symphony. After moving from the countryside back to Helsinki in 1928, Merikanto started actively networking with other Finnish composers, which also had an effect on his music.

The album has a dark and fatalistic mood, which Faithfull attributes partially to the post-9/11 world.

Faithfull enlisted musicians PJ Harvey and Nick Cave, as well as Damon Albarn and producer Jon Brion.

Before the Poison is poetic and unnerving; it stands alone in her catalog in the same way that Broken English did – but this time, on the other side of the mirror.