ANNA B SAVAGE

FROM London SOUNDS LIKE Deep, moody singer-songwriter wisdom expressed in an unforgettable alto voice

Anna b savage keeps writing about birds, but she’s not sure why. Her debut album, A Common Turn, is full of corncrakes, doves, and in one punny instance, a song about terns. “I’m still trying to work this one out,” she says. “When I was writing the album and I was really struggling with it — like pulling teeth — I had a dream where a version of me stood in front of me and was like, ‘You’ve got half an album, and there are too many birds in it.’ ”

The inspiration may be unexpected, but Savage, 30, is learning to go with the flow. After releasing a buzzed-about EP in 2015, and touring with the likes of Father John Misty, the British singer-songwriter went off the grid for a few years in the midst of a painful breakup; through therapy and introspection, she eventually found her way back to making music. In addition to her distinctive, brooding alto voice, Savage has a way of meticulously working through life’s conundrums over the course of a song — even if she doesn’t always arrive at a solution. “I don’t remember how to dance/The beats changed,” Savage sings on her recent single “Dead Pursuits.” “I don’t remember how to be me/I’m not the same.”

She uses her observant skill to lighter ends, too. Take the Leonard Cohen-riffing “Chelsea Hotel #3,” where Savage peppers her memory of a partner who didn’t know how to make her orgasm with dark humor. As her mind wanders to her own pleasures — and the music turns, well, climactic — she fantasizes about Y Tu Mamá También and Tim Curry in lingerie. “I like having that levity next to the depth,” Savage says. “It’s just kind of a human thing.”