TRACK REVIEW: Anna Calvi - You're Not God (From Peaky Blinders Original Soundtrack)

TRACK REVIEW:

Anna Calvi

PHOTO CREDIT: Roger Deckker

You're Not God (From Peaky Blinders Original Soundtrack)

9.6/10

The track, You're Not God (From Peaky Blinders Original Soundtrack), is available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_-74U4V1Hw

GENRES:

Art-Rock/Alternative-Rock

ORIGIN:

London, U.K.

RELEASE DATE:

12th November, 2019

LABEL:

Domino Records Co Ltd

__________

WHEN approaching today’s review subject…

PHOTO CREDIT: Eva Pentel

there are a few things that I need to explore. In terms of Anna Calvi, she is someone I have been a fan of for years now - and I have seen her music develop and build. For her latest track, she sort of assumes the psyche of a T.V. character; writing a tortured song that sort of steps away from her usual template and explores new realms. I shall come to that soon but, before then, I wanted to touch on live performance and how she sort of captivates audiences because of her power and abilities. There are some performers who come off as quite quiet and softly-spoken off of the stage and then transform when they are on the stage. Calvi is not particularity shy, yet she does speak in quite a gentle and delicate way. She has a beautiful speaking voice, but she seems to evolve and transform when she performs. Maybe it is the allure of the stage or the fact she can lose herself, but one gets impressions of Kate Bush in that respect – the fact that both are amazing live performers but assume much bigger personalities when they perform. Calvi knows how important it is to connect with the crowd and bring her music to the fans. Having released Hunter last year and been nominated for a Mercury Prize this year – she lost out to Dave for PSYCHODRAMA -, there are a lot of eyes her way. People want to see her amazing tracks up-close and personal. As such, one is treated to this phenomenal live set that brings the songs fully to life and showcases this artist with an enormous voice and insane guitar skills. Like St. Vincent and Taylor Swift, Calvi has been responsible for more women picking up a guitar and wanting to play. I do think there is this impression that Rock bands and male artists are the only great guitars players and women stick to singing. I think perceptions are changing and, with Calvi striking hard and leading the way, we are seeing attitudes change.

There are a lot of great bands and female artists who play guitar, yet I still think there is sexism regarding women and the guitar. Anna Calvi is one of the finest players around and, combined with her amazing voice and incredible tracks, Calvi’s live sets are the stuff of legend. When she played London’s Roundhouse recently, critics were keen to have their say. Louder Than War wrote thus:

“Swimming Pool was performed in silence, I’ll Be Your Man built from a finger tapping intro before busting into an explosion of noise and by the time we get to Don’t Beat The Girl Out Of The Boy we’re realising that we’ve gone this far still marvelling at the voice that must be one of the strongest in the business that she pushes further and further as the evening goes on. A powerful voice that throughout the evening is flawless.

And then there’s the guitar playing.

Whilst all the above is going on she’s shredding her guitar like Hendrix or embracing it like Carlos Santana. Standing with it at arms length over her head and finally wrestling it to the ground as the final song, a cover of Suicides Ghost Rider throbs along and brings the night to a close.

From The Camden Barfly to this in just over eight years (Xposure live for John Kennedy’s Xposure show on XFM – Arrows of Love & Wild Palms book ending the night). She was always going to be this good we hoped and after a few chance meetings at the Summer Festivals she’s now cracked the big venue game. Three fabulous albums, three fabulous musicians (Alex Thomas on drums, Mally Harpaz on additional percussion and keyboards) and tonight, another elegant, almost Prince-like performance that was also aided by a near perfect audience willing to stand and soak all these tunes in across one evening (shame about the phones).

Anna Calvi is at the top of her game at the moment, big festival headliner in the making with a handful of potential James Bond theme tunes up the sleeves of her flamenco outfit”.

Because Anna Calvi has such an affinity with the stage and knows how important it is for artists to perform and hone their craft, it is great she has been chosen as the Ambassador for next year’s Independent Venue Week. The week is, as is obvious, celebrates venues around the country. From the relatively new and small to those more established and capacious, we are shining a light on hallowed spaces that not only provide opportunities for artists to cut their teeth and get invaluable experience, but venues enrich local communities and provide important cultural centres. Also, in terms of jobs, there are many people who rely on venues. This article from DIY explains more about Independent Venue Week 2020:

“Anna Calvi was announced as the new ambassador for Independent Venue Week 2020 today, in a gathering at London’s 229 venue presented by the BBC’s Huw Stephens.

Helming the seventh year of the campaign, which celebrates grassroots venues around the country, she takes over from last year’s representative Novelist. Previous ambassadors, meanwhile, have included Wolf Alice, Tim Burgess, Frank Turner and more.

Taking up her post today, the singer - who was nominated for this year’s Mercury Music Prize for third album ‘Hunter’ - revealed that she would be announcing a special show in conjunction with IVW, and that the project was close to her heart because she’d met her drummer of 10 years at a small venue”.

Calvi is, as you’d imagine, chuffed at being selected and she will get to shine a light on the amazing and crucial venues we have. Not only did Calvi meet her drummer at a small venue, but she played a lot of intimate venues earlier in her career; without which, she might not have had the chance to build her career and record at all. Music fans need music venues to see which artists are worth exploring and get that sense of community and connection. I will explore venues in more detail closer to the start of Independent Venue Week, but Anna Calvi is a brilliant Ambassador and will relish the opportunity. As part of her role, Calvi will be talking about venues and their importance; she will champion these great spaces that we need to preserve. There are a lot of venues closing around the country, so ensuring we protect the ones that are still in business is paramount.

Anna Calvi has been busy promoting Hunter and touring. It has been a very busy year, and Calvi has enjoyed success and adulation. I will nod to her honours and the fact she won the Fender Play Award presented by Q, but I wanted to talk about a passion of Anna Calvi’s: Peaky Blinders. There are a couple of reasons why Calvi composed the score for Peaky Blinders – she came in on the fifth series and has added something wonderful to the show. Not only has Calvi been afforded the chance to bring her talents into this new world and add her own spin; she is also fascinated by the genderless-ness of its lead character, Tommy Shelby. Calvi explored genderless themes on Hunter and has used her experiences and passion to incorporate something arresting, cinematic and moody to Peaky Blinders. I have not seen the show myself, but I have heard the score and am excited to review a new track from Anna Calvi. In this NME interview, Calvi talks about composing for the show:

“Those who have been watching will now be well-acquainted with Calvi’s impact on season five of Peaky Blinders. Having penned the score, her dramatic breaths, guitar virtuosity and cinematic soundscapes are now indelibly married to the tortured psyche of Tommy Shelby.

“It wasn’t difficult, it was just a lot of fun,” she tells us. “It was incredible for it not to be about me and to really try and get into another character. When I was doing it, I really felt like I was him. I really got into the mindset of Tommy Shelby.”

What you were like around the house at that time?

“Moody! Very moody…”

On continuing her themes of blurring the lines between masculinity and femininity, Calvi says: “The idea of evoking something genderless is definitely something that I explored on my record [2019 album] ‘Hunter’. There’s something about Tommy that’s not just his wife or Lizzie making him have a feminine mind. There’s something intrinsically weirdly genderless about him as a character. Maybe it’s because it’s not about him saying things – you feel his thinking just by his stare.

“You’re almost a shadow to the character.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Roger Deckker

With director Anthony Byrne confirmed to helm Peaky Blinders season six, does Calvi fancy sorting out the music again?

“I’d love to.”

Perhaps a cameo this time too?

“I feel that I’d look pretty cool in all the Peaky clothes. Maybe I could just be some kind of drunk whore in the background. I’d just want to glare in the back.”

As for her own new material, Calvi assures us that it won’t be another five years for her to release another album. She’s already at work on her next record, and claims it has somewhat of a ‘Peaky’ feel to it…

“A lot of the work I did for Peaky was me just playing around with the guitar to get some interesting soundscapes,” she adds. “That’s whet my appetite to do more of that”.

When it comes to soundtracks and scores, more and more artists are stepping into that area. I explored this when reviewing Thom Yorke recently – who composed the score for the film Suspiria and has created some of his best work since that time. I do think artists can heighten their senses and add something stunning to the worlds of film and T.V. I can see artists of all genres stepping into T.V. and film and Calvi herself seems a natural when it comes to this side of things. There is nothing to suggest Calvi cannot balance composition and her normal songwriting. It seems like she has a great passion for Peaky Blinders, so it will be interesting to see what comes next. Artists such as Kacey Musgarves, Weezer and Lauryn Hill have contributed music to soundtracks over the past week, so it is becoming more and more desirable. I shall move on in a minute, but Anna Calvi will provide inspiration for other artists who have been tempted by film and T.V. and want to explore this side of things. I think it is interesting what Calvi was saying about blurring gender lines and not having these conventional boundaries regarding songwriting and a character like Tommy Shelby. I am not sure whether Calvi is composing for the sixth series, but it seems like she is very keen and it will definitely bleed into her forthcoming album – she will have learned new skills composing for Peaky Blinders and will, no doubt, incorporate that into her own music.

Anna Calvi is this inspiration that I will soon cover as part of my Modern Heroines features. I feel she is a future icon and has many years ahead of her. I did mention her guitar playing and how she is encouraging others to pick up the instrument. I forgot to mention the Fender Play Award and the fact she is shining a part for other women. This article discusses the award and Calvi’s feelings:

“Anna Calvi has said she hopes to be an inspiration for aspiring female guitarists as she celebrates a win at this year's Q Awards in association with Absolute Radio.

The singer, songwriter and musician spoke to Official Charts as she was named the winner of the Fender Play Award at this year's Q Awards - a prize that celebrates an artist at the forefront of guitar music today.

"It's incredible for me because I started out as a guitarist before I was a singer," she said. "The guitar has always been a form of expression for me. It's something that I love doing so much and people seem to like the way I do it, which is really lovely."

Anna - whose three studio albums have all been shortlisted for the Mercury Prize, including her latest album Hunter - explained that the record has picked up a growing female following, something she hopes will inspire the next generation of guitarists.

"I was the only girl in my world who played the guitar," she recalled. "Which was strange, but I noticed a lot of the things I liked doing a child were supposedly meant for boys. I liked Skateboarding, climbing trees, playing football, guitar. It was confusing to me that they were supposedly boy things because I always found them fun.

Anna - whose three studio albums have all been shortlisted for the Mercury Prize, including her latest album Hunter - explained that the record has picked up a growing female following, something she hopes will inspire the next generation of guitarists.

"I was the only girl in my world who played the guitar," she recalled. "Which was strange, but I noticed a lot of the things I liked doing a child were supposedly meant for boys. I liked Skateboarding, climbing trees, playing football, guitar. It was confusing to me that they were supposedly boy things because I always found them fun.

"I think it's important to remain excited by what you're playing," she explained. "Developing as a guitarist is so important and not just repeating yourself over and over again. I've tried to expand my palette with each record. I'm looking forward to seeing what that brings next".

I am not sure whether we will see more women picking up the guitar in years to come, but it seems like there is this revolution occurring. I still think there are limits placed on women and these gender roles imposed. Calvi is someone who always blurs gender lines and is helping to break down barriers. Having this idol who is owning the stage and producing some of the best music around, there are few as strong and inspiring as Calvi. I shall come to reviewing Calvi’s new song, but I wanted to bring in a couple of others themes that seem relevant when we explore Anna Calvi and her music. I have spoken a lot about sexism and inequality in the music industry. We are heading into 2020, and one wonders whether there will be balance and parity regarding festival line-ups and how women are represented. I do think there is a long way to go until we see actual equality, yet there are small steps being made all of the time. So many female artists have to face sexism and the struggle of being recognised.

Anna Calvi has faced obstacles and had to overcome a lot of ignorance in her career. In some ways, Hunter was a way of finding her true voice and discussing subjects such as gender rights. In this interview, Calvi touched on themes of gender stereotypes and women being overlooked:

“I’ve always had a quiet speaking voice”, she says at the south London offices of her record label. “And when I started to sing it was a way of releasing all of that introversion.”

“It was a time to rebuild my life, my identity and confidence”, she says. “I wrote the record very much in tandem with falling in love again and exploring being happy and experiencing pleasure and being more free. All the possible things a human can be, which is so restricted by the constraints of having to perform one’s gender. That was what I wanted the record to feel like.”

As a rebellion against women’s invisibility, gender stereotyping and its limitations on humanity, she made her boldest record yet: Hunter – an album she wanted “to feel visceral and primal and wild and messy and have a rawness to it”. And she put out a statement of intent on her website, laying out her views on its themes. “If I hadn’t gone through that difficult time, maybe I wouldn’t have been able to have been so risk-taking in the music”, she says. “It does feel quite exposing”.

There is a long way to go regarding gender roles and ensuring that the playing field is level and fair. There have been steps made this year, but we are still in a situation when festival line-ups are male-heavy and there are fewer opportunities for women. Big and important albums like Hunter and being celebrated, so it is only natural the messages of female empowerment and importance will be taken to heart.

PHOTO CREDIT: Mathew Parri Thomas

More and more, Calvi is this incredible leader who is shining a light and paving the way for others. Not only is she battling against sexism and gender roles; she is an artist in a queer relationship and, gradually, there is this acceptance and visibility of queer artists. Maybe we have not seen true acceptance, yet I feel like artists such as Shura and Anna Calvi are opening up doors and conversations. In 2019, we should not be talking about the need to do more to promote queer artists, as one would hope they would be naturally embraced. This is not quite the reality, so it is vital artists like Anna Calvi are heard. She spoke about queerness and her experiences in this recent interview with The Independent:

“Both Hackman and Calvi have written songs about unwanted male intrusion into queer female relationships – “Boyfriend” and “Don’t Beat the Girl Out of My Boy”, respectively. “When you’re in a gay relationship and you’re out in the world,” says Calvi, “you can feel that your love is protecting you both, and you can feel really happy. But there’s always this risk that someone’s gonna try and break this beautiful thing that you have and say something to you, or try and make you feel uncomfortable. That feeling of being present in this beautiful thing can change and I just have this rage in me. Like, ‘F***. Off.’ And that’s what that scream is,” she says, referring to a guttural, drawn-out yelp in the middle of the song. “I will protect this beautiful thing that I have with all my life, and my defiance of you is my happiness. Nobody is gonna make me feel that we don’t have a right to be in this space, and to express ourselves.”

Calvi is buoyed by the increasing acceptance of queer artists into the mainstream, though she worries about her identity being commodified. “I talked to a journalist who was a bit older who was saying, ‘Is this whole sudden queer thing the new counter-culture, like the punks?’ And I tried to explain to her that the main difference is that if a trans person doesn’t feel they can be understood... we’re talking about life and death.

People kill themselves. It’s not just for fun, it’s not about what music you like or what hobbies you have, this is about people’s lives. And I think it’s really dangerous to try and condense it and make it a product. But I do think it’s great for me as an artist that there’s a family of queer artists. The difficult thing is if only people in that community hear about each other, then there’s a sense of ghettoising. I suppose equality is only when it’s not even a thing anymore. And we obviously are far away from that being the case.”

The problem, she continues, “is our world exists around the idea that the default human is a white male. Anything else is an exotic anomaly. That’s the big problem. Because the default is male in our world, there’s this feeling that if a woman wants to exist on equal terms, we have to almost become male”.

The subject of queerness is being brought into music more, but the reality for queer artists and people is quite stark. I do hope 2020 is a year where there are more discussions revolving around gender and sexuality; that we are going to see truly huge steps taken that means, in years to come, no artist should be overlooked and have to struggle – this extends to race and class. I shall leave things there, as I am keen to dissect and explore Anna Calvi’s Peaky Blinders track, You’re Not God. It is intriguing to speculate whether Calvi will continue to compose for the show, and whether she will bring some of the darker energy for that soundtrack/score and mix it into her own music. Who knows what Anna Calvi’s next studio album will contain. It is rather exciting to speculate! Right now, we have this Peaky Blinders track that is truly sensational and immersive. It shows what a phenomenally eccentric and talented composer and artist Anna Calvi is.

I love the opening of You’re Not God, as it reminds me a bit of The Dead Weather and Jack White’s work on Lazaretto. There is this eeriness and darkness that is both Gothic and contemporary. You get this raw and bellicose drum and a voodoo bite from the guitar that instantly summons visual projections and imagination. Even if, like me, you are not steeped in Peaky Blinders and familiar with it, you can appreciate the song and its meaning. I do know about Tommy Shelby and what he brings to the series. Unlike her studio work and her normal output, Calvi is putting sound at the forefront. If Hunter is an album defined by its powerful themes and Calvi’s voice, You’re Not God is defined more by its sonics and visual nature. I do love the fact Calvi is at her experimental best on this track. The guitar grunts and grumbles as we get this musky, bat-like and ghoulish wail from the background. You are transported to the murky and evocative scenes of Peaky Blinders, but Calvi brings something more to the music. From the sound of the first few moments and this enticing dynamic, the percussion comes to the front. Playing off of the cymbal, there is this calm and measured tease that actually has a lot of tension and menace. The wails come back in, before there is a drone in the background that increases and gets louder. Suddenly, you go from a dark and terrifying scene to somewhere safer. That sense of safety and respite might be misplaced as Calvi enters with breathy vocals. There are few actual words to the song and, as you’d imagine from a Peaky Blinders piece of music, the emphasis is more on the sound and composition. I had to go back again and again to the song, as it is rather heavy and big the first time.

It is an amazing song, and one that moves through different phases. I did notice that slight Jack White influence and some of his work. Mixing in that with so many different emotions and possibilities, one is drawn into this phenomenal song that can be appreciated as a standalone track. I could see it being well-received on an Anna Calvi studio album, because there is so much texture and nuance. There is a Peaky Blinders playlist that unites all the tracks so you can sort of see where the latest cut fits in and investigate other Anna Calvi contributions. I am reviewing this track without seeing the scene it accompanies or how it fits in with the show. I wanted to go in blind as it were to see if it would lead me in a different way. I think you could get too clear an impression of a track if you see which scenes its scores, so hearing it on its own has been important. I was amazed from the first moments, and I can tell how natural Anna Calvi is where it comes to composing. From that ghostly and oddly majestic start to the unnerving calm of the percussive cymbal through to Calvi bringing in a sensual-yet-exhausted breathlessness to the song, each listener will have their own scenes rushing through their heads. I have not really explored soundtracks and scores lately. I appreciate them when watching film and T.V., though I never usually listen to them out of context as it were. Hearing You’re Not God on its own terms has given me a fresh appreciation of composition. I usually listen to music with vocals, but hearing this extraordinary sound with very little vocal interjection is stunning. I suggest people listen to You’re Not God and, if like me, you are not a viewer of Peaky Blinders, you might want to do some investigating!

Anna Calvi is heading to the U.S. soon, and she will be busy up until the end of this year. Having enjoyed a successful year of awards, nominations and some incredible gigs, Calvi will take that energy and positivity into 2020. I am not sure whether she will release a new album (in 2020) but there will be new gigs and I am sure fresh opportunities. Calvi has expressed how she’d love to continue writing for Peaky Blinders, so fans might yet get another chance to hear her work on the screen. I have enjoyed reviewing Anna Calvi’s latest tracks and talking about one of the most important artists of this generation. Not only is Calvi a guitar icon and someone who is battling against sexism and helping bring queerness more to the forefront; she is also the Ambassador for Independent Venue Week next year and she will help illuminate the importance of venues. I do wonder whether Calvi will adopt more roles like this in future. She is an essential artist and she is providing so much strength for so many out there. I can envisage her genuinely affecting progression and breaking down barriers. Maybe she is a bit slammed right now, but one can imagine Calvi acting as a spokesperson for the music industry and helping to bring about necessary change. As a musician and singer, Calvi is already inspiring others and giving a voice to those who didn’t have one previously. If you have not checked out Anna Calvi’s music, ensure you get involved and have a look at her Spotify account. Give her a follow on social media (all links are at the bottom of this review) and step into her world. Calvi is an amazing artist and someone who has many golden years ahead. I feel 2020 will be her most successful year and one where she will collect awards, big festivals slots and…well, who knows just how far she can go. 2019 has been a monster year for Calvi and she continues to go from strength to strength. Get behind, follow and respect a rare musical artist with immense talent, feverish passion and…