An iconic figure thanks to her prominence in the ‘60s as folk singer, fashionista and muse to Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull has enjoyed a renaissance later in life following what she describes as “a bit of difficult time in the ‘70s” (something of an understatement when you consider she endured homelessness and heroin addiction). In 2002, she roped in a younger generation of collaborators such as Blur, Pulp, Beck and Billy Corgan, and ended up producing the finest album of her career, the brilliantly eclectic Kissin’ Time.
The singer has delivered a steady stream of quality music since and continued to appear in films by uber-hip directors like Sofia Coppola, but as this is Marianne Faithfull, it was never going to be plain sailing. She struggled with clinical depression in 2008 following a break-up, and an air of melancholy certainly permeates the wonderfully titled Horses and High Heels. Produced by underground guru Hal Wilner, this impressive mix of covers and originals features its fair share of lovelorn country numbers and plaintive piano ballads.
The emotional ache of the album is also added to by Faithfull’s trademark weathered vocals; deep, expressive, resonant – her singing conveys the ups and downs of life in much the same way as Leonard Cohen. One of the finest tracks is ‘Love Song’, an acoustic number augmented by shimmering, Floyd-ian guitar notes, which finds Faithfull pleading with the object of her desire not to postpone their inevitable getting together.
The flipside of this experience is articulated in ‘Why Did We Have To Part’, a tender expression of disappointment and heartbreak. The pain in the song is palpable, but like the rest of Horses and High Heels, it just hurts so good.