Spread Free Like a Butterfly consists of twelve songs, which represent Savage’s most adult and understated work to date. The focus now more than ever is placed squarely on the lyrics. It is often a dubious practice to examine the moral concerns presented by a piece of art, yet making an exception in this case is an invaluable key to understanding and enjoying this record.

One could view Savage’s previous work as a defiant final celebration of a fast-retreating childhood, a final romp in a forest rich with nymphs and coquettes. Spread Free Like a Butterfly trades the impulsiveness and fire-breathing of youth for the comforts and indeed the great sadness of a new maturity.

It is an album about being done wrong by immensely good people, of forgiveness, empathy and reason. Savage refuses to rush to condemnation and the fact that the songs deal with vivid personal dilemmas in which the artist refuses to define a conclusion makes the songs all the more haunting and true to life. Love as a label is exposed as a destructive yet unavoidable personal myth, that which makes us most human and also torments us above all else.

With incredible aptness and above all else warmth Savage has given us the gift of a record at once extremely personal and universally resonant. This is a record to grow old with…fast.