Jack Savoretti is not just a pretty face. Yes, the man is sweat-inducingly hot, but he’s also stealthily become one of our favourite musical talents of recent times. This week sees the launch of his (brilliant, BTW) new album, Sleep No More, so we asked Jack (who’s married with two children) to talk us through the tracks. “This is going to be like therapy,” he tells us. Hop up on our couch…
The (not) concept
“I don't like not use the word 'concept', but Sleep No More is designed to be played in track order. Most albums are about falling in love or breaking up, but this is about the bit in the middle. After you walk off into the sunset, there isn’t just the happy ending – usually, you have a row and hate each other four hours later! In life, when everything’s good, something shit happens. And when everything’s shit, something always pulls you up, and I wanted to reflect that.” So, to the tracks…
When We Were Lovers
“This is about that moment when you’ve been in a relationship for a long time, and you start to reminisce about what you once were. Like, ‘Remember how we used to be, when we were lovers and nothing else mattered?’ It starts with this, looking back, and then the rest of the album pinpoints all the steps on the way – good, bad and ugly! – until you get to Lullaby Loving about creating a child.”
Deep Waters
“This is the album's only reference to work. Any industry you work in becomes deep water when you’re no longer doing it just for passion or survival, but to take care of your family. Suddenly, work becomes a different responsibility. And it’s also saying to my wife, ‘At the risk of losing you, I have to keep doing what I'm doing’. This is a dangerous job when it comes to stability. And when you start building a family, it’s terrifying.”
I'm Yours
“This is about how you never forget that moment when you meet The One. Also, in my case, it’s about how incredibly unprepared I was for such a moment! The rest of the song is me saying, ‘Listen, I’m very aware that I wasn’t ready for this, but now I just might be.’ Maybe! Big question mark! But I’m certainly closer than I’ve ever been.”
Helpless
“This is the saddest song, but you wouldn’t guess it musically. Someone said to me, ‘You always write sad songs,’ and I thought, ‘That’s true… so now I’m going to disguise the saddest song on the album’. It’s about questioning where you’re at, if everything is as good as you think it is and that feeling of, ‘I can’t give any more. Is this all there is?’ It’s that fear of running out of love, of not getting enough love and feeling… helpless. Well-titled, then!”
We Are Bound
“This is about breaking free. It’s saying, ‘Enough with trying to have the right life because of what anybody else says. I don’t care who likes it, let’s do this our way’. I can safely say I had that enlightenment emotionally and professionally at the same time. After years of being suppressed, I suddenly realised no one can tell us what to do. We are bound for doing it our way. It’s the opposite of Helpless in that respect.”
Tight Rope
“This is an acknowledgment to my wife of, ‘I can’t do this without you’. The tightrope metaphor has been done before, so I was on the edge about using it. But I had this image of all your memories and experiences – good and bad – being in this pit and walking the tightrope is the only way to get across it. It’s about finding the person in life who changes everything, who helps you get across that rope.”
Troubled Souls
“This one’s about always wanting more. That feeling of always being unsatisfied, which can lead to addiction – be that love, drugs, music, art… The reason I still do what I do is there’s evidently a troubled soul inside me that always wants recognition!”
Only You
“It’s been a while since I’d written a song at a piano, and it makes you think differently – you go deeper. This is about, ‘I don’t want to say I love you because YOU are great. I want to say I love you because you realise how shit I am! You’re not cool with it – I KNOW you’re not cool with it – but you’re still here.’”
Sleep No More
“I wanted this to be the title track as it identifies my life in the past few years: getting very little sleep! For good reasons and for bad… and kids, of course. The irony is the things I adore in life and the things I’m trying to get rid of, both keep me up at night. It defines the phase of life I was in when the album was written. Insomnia can really take you to the brink of madness and I was on that edge for a while.”
Any Other Way
“This is the naughty boy of the album, and a bit arrogant. It’s saying, ‘You know what? Everybody stop asking me to change! Stop trying to make me perfect, because you LOVE that I’m not perfect’. I think many people feel that way: ‘Tell somebody else what to do and not me!’”
Start Living In The Moment
“One of the greatest burdens anyone can carry is expectation. I’m very fortunate that I genuinely have zero expectations – I rarely expect anything, so I’m always chuffed. But I know people with high expectations and that very often leads to disappointment. Depression is the one thing I’ve been able to avoid, and that’s partly thanks to my lack of expectations. So I hope this is motivational: ‘Stop thinking about “shoulda, coulda, woulda” and enjoy life right now.’”
Lullaby Loving
“This is literally a lullaby and it's about creating a child, creating something bigger than yourself from all the madness of a relationship. Also, I like to end every album with a hint of what’s coming next. With SNM, I didn't want to just do the classic ‘guy on a guitar’ thing, I wanted them to have more power behind them. But, with this track, I thought, ‘Where do I want to go next?’ I want to go to the Royal Albert Hall next and this is the kind of song I want to get there with. It’s closing off this chapter and starting the next one.”
Sleep No More is out now. Order it here
Jack is touring the UK in November. Buy tickets here
Photos: Tom Oxley