Les Savy Fav have been underground indie-rock darlings for forever. This is as much a consequence of singer Tim Harrington’s eccentric onstage antics as their DIY ethos – all but one of their albums have been released on bassist Syd Butler’s Frenchkiss Records. After a decade and a half, which includes a year-long hiatus, the 5-piece have released a 5th studio album which may just catapult them into the big leagues.
The release, ‘Root For Ruin’, comes complete with the Fugazi-inspired post-hardcore quirks of previous LSF offerings. As a general rule song structures are consciously more straightforward, except for midpoint ‘Poltergeist’, the result being greater accessibility for the uninitiated. There are elements borrowed from more commercially successful artists; guitars reminiscent of the Pixies, backing vocals veering towards Weezer territory and offbeat instrumentation that wouldn’t feel out of place on a Modest Mouse record. Still, the band have not relinquished their edginess entirely and there are plenty of moments where you can feel the tension rising.
The high points on this album are… well pretty much everywhere to be honest. On a personal note rocking opener ‘Appetites’ ingeniously borrows from Silver Jews’ ‘Punks In The Beerlight’, a Cougar favourite. Stopping short of mentioning the entire track list, ‘Dirty Knails’, ‘Sleepless in Silverlake’, ‘Lips n’ Stuff’ and ‘Excess Energies’ also contribute to make this a master class in dynamics, merging pop craftsmanship with ballsy rock ethos.
You’ve got to feel for LSF. They were forced into a hasty digital release of ‘Root For Ruin’ more than a month ahead of schedule after it was leaked via various torrent sites. As a result, it may not have quite the impact that it would have enjoyed were it to have exploded onto the market with a coordinated release strategy.
It deserves more, seeing as it is arguably the Brooklyn post-hardcore outfit’s best work to date. Here’s hoping the gods smile upon “les bloody fab”.
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Post by back-to-school Kenny
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