Elizabeth: The Songs, Words, Treasures and Images that Inspired ‘Love Is The Easiest Salvation’

September 3, 2023

‘Love Is The Easiest Salvation’ is the first single of 2023 from Brisbane/Meanjin-based songwriter and performer Elizabeth. The epic and wholly moving pop song is the first taste of the artist’s to-be-announced second album, due sometime in 2024. Elizabeth’s debut LP, the quietly capacious the wonderful world of nature, came out in 2019.

Elizabeth is part of this year’s BIGSOUND program, playing an official showcase at The Loft on Wednesday, 6th September and appearing at a couple of parties on the days either side. In the lead up to the event, Elizabeth spoke to Music Feeds about the songs, words, objects and images that inspired the creative world of ‘Love Is The Easiest Salvation’.

Elizabeth – ‘Love Is The Easiest Salvation’

Eros The Bittersweet by Anne Carson

Elizabeth: I was reading this when I wrote ‘Love Is The Easiest Salvation’. The idea that romantic love is a source of both pleasure and pain, fulfilment and destruction. A tribute to the original lesbian Sappho; how could I not love?

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover

Elizabeth: This film, directed by Peter Greenaway, depicts the terrible things that terrible people do when they are “in love”. And it’s a spectacle the whole way through.

Bones, stones and snake skins

Elizabeth: My spooky collection of bones, stones and snake skins features on the cover art of ‘Love Is The Easiest Salvation’. I keep these treasures on my treasure shelves, and I find them to be very special. They were collected on walks, farms and at the beach. A friend recently said, “Oh there is a big dead bug on your shelf,” and I said, “Yes I put it there”.

@elizabethmusic_elizabeth please enjoy my spooky collection #spooky #bones #collection #snake #body #horror #horrortok #scary #collector ♬ original sound – elizabethmusic

The Phantom of the Opera

Elizabeth: OK, never was there a more toxic love worship than The Phantom’s obsession for Christine Daaé. Also the fact that Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote Phantom for his wife Sarah Brightman, what a parallel – a genius creating for his muse.

Church recording at St Peter’s Basilica

Elizabeth: During the pandemic, I was making demos that included bootleg recordings of church sounds. One from St Peter’s Basilica made it into the final version of ‘Love Is The Easiest Salvation’, and I think it added to the allusion to religious iconography in the song. What is a more pleasurable and painful love than being committed to something so much bigger than ourselves?