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Four new songs recorded by Marianne Faithfull in the year prior to her death are to be released for Record Store Day on 12 April.
Burning Moonlight was due for announcement in February, but postponed following Faithfull’s death on 30 January at the age of 78. Her family requested the release of the music, which comes via Decca Records and will be available as a digital edition on 6 June.
Following the completion of the project, Faithfull said: “It’s a good time to look back. It helps me to remember all the things I’ve done. I can’t say I’m a particularly nostalgic person, but I am enjoying this period of reflection.”
Faithfull’s son Nicholas Dunbar said in a new statement: “As we grieve the loss of Marianne, we are pleased to announce the release of these songs which she worked on during the year before her death. Marianne lived to create and perform music – it was her driving force and she never stopped. Right up until the end she was looking forward to this release which now completes and celebrates her remarkable artistic career.”
The EP was inspired by Faithfull’s first two solo albums, released on the same day on 15 April 1965. Her self-titled album was a pop record; Come My Way a folkier release. Each side of the new EP is inspired by one of the records. “It was so unusual to start your career this way, so we decided to bring the music full circle,” said executive producer Andrew Batt, who worked alongside Head, Rob Ellis and Faithfull’s grandson Oscar Dunbar.
The first side takes its cues from Faithfull’s pop history. The title track, released today, was inspired by the first line of her debut single As Tears Go By: “It is the evening of the day.” The second song, Love Is, was written with Oscar Dunbar.
The second, folk side includes the traditional song Three Kinsmen Bold, which Faithfull learned from her father Glynn, and a new interpretation of the Faithfull staple She Moved Thru’ the Fair.
Head first worked with Faithfull on her 2004 album Before the Poison. “I’m so happy we found a time when Marianne felt able to write and sing again,” he said, referring to Faithfull’s long battle with Covid-19, which left her hospitalised for 22 days in 2020.
“When she asked me to produce these songs, we were all aware that her health had made things difficult but, in true Marianne fashion, she persevered, and I think we were able to go in a new direction again – something she always tried to push herself to do throughout her long career.”
The EP is Faithfull’s first release since the album She Walks in Beauty with Warren Ellis, released in 2021.
