Jehnny Beth reflects on working with Cillian Murphy after seeing his performance in Oppenheimer

Beth released her debut solo album, To Love Is To Live, shortly after the world went into lockdown as a result of the global pandemic. Halfway through the album, things take a sombre and unexpected turn, with the voice of Cillian Murphy speaking over an ambient synth track – "A Place Above" – which grows in intensity as it draws to a close.

Following the release of the highly anticipated Christopher Nolan film, Oppenheimer, Beth has reflected on what it was like working with Murphy, and also noted some similarities between the tone of both works of art.

"Seeing Oppenheimer last week I was compelled with the similarities between this text and his character in the movie. In this video I have edited them both together for fun and it’s quite incredible how they relate," she says.

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"I think Cillian has one of the best voices in modern cinema. I remember he wrote to me when I sent him the text: ‘It's big stuff. It should be done in a slow way, a quiet way.' He made it personal, as if hearing someone's darkest and unfiltered thoughts."

Beth goes on to explain that she had the 1987 film Wings of Desire by German director Wim Wenders in mind when she wrote the text to go along with "A Place Above", describing it was a film "in which angels have access to people's secret thoughts. So the initial idea was indeed cinematographic."

Referencing the professionalism of Murphy, and the dedication to him getting into character, she added: "When we met, Cillian was everything you would expect, calm, friendly, very generous. We recorded three takes. For the last one, we played him the music through headphones. That’s the one we kept, one shot, no edits. Goosebumps."

When BEST FIT interviewed Beth about her album, To Love Is To Live, we kept being drawn back to the thought process of, 'I am human and I am accepting all of my faults'. With Beth's comparison of Murphy's performance on the album akin to his performance in Oppenheimer, the sentiment now also takes on new meaning in relation to the famous quote: "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds".