Jehnny Beth

The record is rooted in an encounter of two alter egos – the male and female – exploring pleasure, power and transformation – religious and mythological iconography play a central role throughout the campaign. The embodiment of different voices and the notion of embracing masculine and feminine identities provided our initial starting point. The HS team spent time researching artists who have studied and celebrated the physical form, these included great Renaissance and Flemish sculptors such as Cellini and Giambolgona, as well as image makers Leni Riefenstahl (her study of the Nuba tribes) and George Platt Lynes.

Harnessing the power of body language, we collaborated with Choreographer, Natricia Bernard, to create a sequence of poses, shapes and compositions that explored a spectrum of human emotion. Using a process of 3D scanning to capture Beth’s physical form enabled us to manipulate and render the figures in any conceivable material – the marmoreal flesh of classical sculpture thus becomes Beth’s own, complete with tattoos and her signature jewellery.

The campaign extended into the video for ‘We Will Sin Together’. Over five individual scenes, subtle references to a specific moment in Catholic, Roman and Greek narratives are made – the Virgin Mary; Cupid and Psyche; Pluto and Proserpina; Michael and Lucifer; and Satyr and Hermaphroditus. ‘WWST combined the 3D capture of Beth taken from the original album session, combined with motion capture shot in March 2020. The entire film was finished over a three month period of lockdown, with the team working remotely between London, Paris and Tokyo.