After a nearly six-decade-long career, vocalist Marianne Faithfull returns to music, following a severe bout with COVID-19 that damaged her lungs and left her doubting if she will be able to sing again. Collaborating alongside composer and multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis, and a string of other musicians, the group works together to bring a unique approach to She Walks in Beauty, Faithfull’s interpretation of some well-known works by influential poets. Faithfull’s own wisdom-filled vocals recite the poems over a variety of instrumental tracks and touches of electronic arrangements by producer-engineer Head.

She Walks in Beauty isn’t the first of Faithfull’s albums to be inspired by Romantic-Era poetry. She first developed her passion while studying at St Joseph’s Convent School in Reading, England as a teen, and would later go on to produce 1979’s Broken English and 1995’s A Secret Life, both of which stem from the works of beloved poets. 

The 11-track album opens with its namesake, originally written by Lord Byron, which creates the peaceful feeling of a springtime morning. The chirping of birds and a dreamlike soundscape made from blends of Nick Cave’s soft piano combine eloquently as Marianne Faithfull speaks of light and shade illuminating a young woman’s face.

The tone shifts to a more somber feel for “The Bridge of Sighs,” as Faithfull’s desperate vocals take center stage in Thomas Hood’s 1844 poem. She graphically embodies the motions of death, pleading with a higher power to “take her up tenderly.” It’s lined with a simple and steady ambient track by Brian Eno, whose work appears once again layered through the next track, John Keats’ “La Belle Dame Sans Merci.” The whining, metallic hum carries the song for the entire first minute before Faithfull’s rendition of the piece begins. “I met a lady in the meads,/ Full beautiful—a faery’s child,/ Her hair was long, her foot was light,/ And her eyes were wild,” the vocalist’s aged, but forever memorable voice recites.

Faithfull dives right into “Ode To A Nightingale,” this time supported by the sounds of a saddened church organ. The classic  Keats poem compares the life of nature to human mortality. Faithfull’s voice becomes almost a whisper as she approaches the chilling stanza in conversation with death. “Call’d him soft names in many a mused rhyme,/ To take into the air my quiet breath,” she says.

Keats is paid tribute in yet a third piece, “Ode to Autumn,” which opens with a chorus of brass. Splashes of piano and synthesizers chime in with peaceful and majestic tones while Faithfull’s timbre-filled voice adds to the ensemble’s vibrancy. Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Ozymandias,” originally from 1818, starts out with a similar dreamlike soundscape that creates a mesmerizing feeling all while light and synthesized booms weave in and out of adagio piano phrases.

A coupling of William Wordsworth pieces follow, “From The Prelude” and “Surprised By Joy,” two of the shortest and most straightforward recitations on the album. The tracks recount themes of gratitude and bittersweet nostalgia, with Faithfull’s voice maintaining control over more simplistic sound textures.

The words of Shelley’s “To the Moon” finds chemistry with Cave’s elegant piano resonance complementing that of Vincent Segal’s cello. The cello is featured once again for nearly the entire first minute of “So We’ll Go No More A Roving,” another piece written by Lord Byron. Here, Faithfull creates a feeling of the fading days of youth on lines like, “the heart must pause to breathe.”

She Walks in Beauty closes with the nearly 12-minute “Lady Of Shallot.” This complex classic piece from Lord Tennyson is brought together by glittering sounds echoing and chimes sprinkled throughout. They combine to create a magical yet asymmetrical musical representation of the mysterious island creature referred to as the Lady of Shallot. If there’s one thing Faithfull has proved with her album, it’s that good writing really never goes out of style. 

Follow writer Amelia Parreira at Twitter.com/AmeliaParreira.