Les Savy Fav – Root For Ruin (Wichita)
4/5
Les Savy Fav are exceedingly difficult to dislike. They’ve been plugging away for 15 years now, releasing great art-punk record after great art-punk record, and have remained resolutely wacky and true to their style as their star has steadily risen in the alt-rock spectrum. After years of hard graft, 2007s Let’s Stay Friends finally got them the recognition in the mainstream music press that they so thoroughly deserved, but since then they have laid distinctly low, with only one live album (2008s After the Balls Drop) to hint at continued productivity. It seems a trivial quibble – throughout their career they’ve averaged a new full-length (if you include Inches) about once every three years, so Root for Ruin is in fact pretty much bang on time. But having made such a big stride forward three years ago, a whole wave of new fans were expecting a little more action to keep their appetites whetted.
It seems paradoxical, therefore, that Tim Harrington’s lyrics focus more than ever on the group’s place in the alternative music spectrum. Just as Let’s Stay Friends opener ‘Pots and Pans’ presented a resolute ‘f**k you’ to all the people who had doubted if the band would continue to make records in relative obscurity, the first track here pummels you with the message; ‘We still got our appetite!’ As opposed to the lethargic Pavement stylings of ‘Pots and Pans’, however, ‘Appetites’ holds true to the band’s claim that this record would be dirtier and punkier than most of the stuff they’ve been putting out since the turn of the century. It’s venomous, it’s aggressive, and it’s fantastic.
At the other times they address the issue of their relevance, results are mixed. ‘Let’s Get Out of Here’ sounds like Gang of Four covering Pulp, and the cry of ‘We might fade away/But we’re here today’ is exactly the sort of backs-to-the-wall-Romantic lyric that has garnered such a powerful fan base of avid weirdoes for the group over the years, as is the fist-pumping chant of ‘Out on the fringe we get high and unhinged’ in highlight ‘High and Unhinged’. However, sometimes the band look to hit home their sentiment too forcefully, and tracks like ‘Lips ‘n’ Stuff’ and ‘Excess Energies’, despite being full of excellent one-liners (‘Time and purpose I defy you’), lose their focus in strains of hyperactive guitars and off-beat shouting.
When they look forward, and combine their early punk sound with their more melodic recent output, we get some of the best stuff the band has ever produced. ‘Sleepless in Silverlake’ is a gem, with pulsating disco drums and yet another in a long line of great Fav riffs – while Harrington tends to receive all the plaudits, the beating heart of the group is surely the Seth Jabour and his endlessly inventive guitar work. ‘Dear Crutches’ has another go at the ‘serious/heartfelt/lovesick rock song’ thing they failed at on Let’s Stay Friends in ‘Comes and Goes’, and results are noticeably much better, a staccato guitar line and trademark Fav chugging bass combining to excellent effect. And closer ‘Clear Spirits’ hints at what could be a very interesting future direction for the group – more beat-based than a lot of the stuff they’ve done previously, the rhythm section are given a chance to shine while Harrington and Jabour still whip out an excellent chorus.
You would be forgiven for wondering if, by now, the group had perhaps started to focus its attention elsewhere – on family life, on other work, on a future beyond the Fav. From that very first track, your questions are answered – Root for Ruin may not be a perfect record, but it still shows that, without doubt, the band have still got their appetite.
Les Savy Fav -- Let s Get Out Of Here
Artists in this article: Les Savy Fav
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