by Philip Moss

Anna B. Savage shines a light on a set of songs that don’t deserve to be on the cutting room floor

A Common Turn stands apart from anything else released this year. A record that very much turned the lens in on herself, Savage’s first full length release presented her as an artist already fully formed. Just nine months on comes These Dreams – a short collection of songs from the same sessions that are in no way a set of ugly sisters.

These Dreams is very much of the same world as the London songwriter’s debut long player. But there are some noticeable differences too. Even darker – diving further still into the Gothic recesses of A Common Turn – the title track embraces the soundtrack works of Trent Reznor, and is her most aggressive musical moment yet. And where her debut searched for answers, Since We Broke Up begins to offer them – ‘I hope I never fall in love again. I want to live alone’ – on her most adventurous arrangement to date. 

It’s the moments when Savage’s voice is at its most hardened that she is at her most vulnerable – but it’s also when she unfurls her most overt move towards straight pop melody. And it’s this combination that not only proves her outstanding conscious craft, but also that she isn’t just a good songwriter, but a wonderful one.

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