Savages
Adore Life
Does music still surprise you? Not a particular act or sound, but the very concept of it? How something as simple as hitting and pulling objects in a specific timing and stretching the vocal chords at specific intervals can evoke the deepest emotions and bring up memories long forgotten?
Savages tap into that primal urge to make music as a form or expression--not artistic expression per se, but the expulsion of feeling, like a scream you've waited too long to unleash. Adore Life is as pure an expression of that urge as has been made, and it's darkest corners invoke the dread that haunts even the most optimistic of us.
Savages' version post-punk isn't nearly as lyrical or lilting as Protomartyr's ode to Joy Division, but closer to the frenetic and random explosiveness of Wire or Swans mixed with the volume of My Bloody Valentine. Jehnny Beth's vocals are a screamed mix of Bjork and Beach House, the perfect counterpoint to the whirling cacophony they soar over. The staggered delivery of "I Need Something New," or the more mainstream, calm crooning of "Adore" highlight her talent equally, and are the perfect examples of how odd and beautiful are often one and the same.
There's still plenty of year to go, but Savages have asserted themselves as the cream of the crop and will be difficult to topple.
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