Margo Mann – The Worth Of It
Naarm/Melbourne artist Margo Mann unveils “The Worth Of It” – the next taste of her debut album Love Is A Dog ahead of its release on October 16 via [PIAS] Recordings.
“The Worth Of It” is a tender, devotional love song about choosing someone even when love becomes difficult. Bare-boned, raw and timeless, it captures a kind of commitment that says: whatever comes around the corner, I’ll still choose you.
On the track Margo says “I think it’s the second most generous track in the record in terms of its simplicity and directness. The confession of love is only once undercut by the lines “Won’t come up less I need to, I need air then I’ll breathe you.”
Influenced by the greats of storytelling and vocal performance, the band locked into the potent emotion of Margo’s lyrics. Citing their north star as the iconic Nina Simone for her “piano crooner sensibilities” they captured a sense of breathless, all encompassing love from start to finish. In true Margo fashion the cinema comes to a peak at the outro, with angelic backing vocals by Tim Harvey – “we created this tapestry of breathy, syncopated vocals – when they come in I just exhale. I’m no Erik Satie, but we also referenced his ‘Gymnopédie No 1.’ for the piano flourishes in the outro.”
The single comes with a video directed by Bridgette Winten – “I came to Bridgette with two video references for this one: Ne Me Quitte Pas and the iconic Nothing Compares To You. I wanted it to be in black and white, super simple, and still. I think reserve can be so much more arresting than chaos or over-performance – and that’s what I wanted to lean into here”
Margo Mann’s debut record Love Is A Dog produced by Burke Reid (Courtney Barnett, Julia Jacklin) and mastered by Matt Colton ( Fontaines DC, Blur) – twists and turns with a theatrical edge. From moments of intense vulnerability to dry wit, indie guitars to pop earworm hooks, and cinematic crescendo articulated on grand piano – it’s an album that explores every corner of her sonic palette.
Existentially, it charts pain, devotion, and agency as the three pillars of the record -“Love Is A Dog is very raw in places. It was forged from a time of absolute questioning and unravelling. A time where I hadn’t quite reassembled myself properly. But equally, it was born out of an attempt at ruthless self-trust.” Without attempting to solve such existentialism, she beautifully lands at the conclusion that life is immeasurable, uncontrollably, perfectly unknowable.
Margo’s dedication to the process is simply unquestionable. To make the album she drained her savings account, sold her car, flew her entire band around the world to France, and poured her entire heart into a record. The bond between band, artist and producer reached great depth immediately, with Margo putting her commitment to the craft on full display “It was an incredibly galvanizing and intense experience. This record couldn’t have been made any other way“. Margo even returned to her very first instrument, the piano, to draw a line in the sand and push herself into a new process for a new result.
“The Worth Of It” follows Margo’s recent singles “Not Love,” “Westgarth / Grace” and “Shapeshifter”- which saw immediate praise for their “delightful theatricality” and “atmospheric story telling”.
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