Savages – Silence Yourself

Sometimes all it takes is a message. A clear statement, a consequent attitude. There is a lack right here in modern music these days. A lack of consequence, concept and a certain degree of idealism. So if – from time to time – a band arrives who’s willing to play things different by retaining their own composure. SAVAGES are such a band – angry, loud, dark, mysterious and very precise in the way they present themselves and their energetic post-punk to the world. The four women have some sort of credo that is the key motor to their sound it seems. A statement which is so fitting that we just present it to you here word by word.

“SAVAGES is not trying to give you something you didn’t have already, it is calling within yourself something you buried ages ago, it is an attempt to reveal and reconnect your PHYSICAL and EMOTIONAL self and give you the urge to experience your life differently, your girlfriends, your husbands, your jobs, your erotic life and the place music occupies in your life. Because we must teach ourselves new ways of POSITIVE MANIPULATIONS, music and words are aiming to strike like lightning, like a punch in the face, a determination to understand the WILL and DESIRES of the self.”

Big words with a big sound. SAVAGES want you to over think everything and take nothing for granted. They are not pretentious hipsters, they don’t look and sound like they want to score a hit single, riding on the stylish dark wave of THE XX and others. Their debut record – out May 7 via Matador Records – is dedicated to their attitude and songs full of emotion, distortion and the urge to make you shiver in any possible way. Silence Yourself features eleven tracks by the four women from London in the style of traditional dark post-punk. But it’s not always the clean and structured type of bands like JOY DIVISION or INTERPOL, it’s a quite noisy and loud form, giving the sound a certain lo-fi spirit and the right amount of anger such music needs.

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“Not an animal / not a human / not a soul” declares lead singer Jehnny Beth in the rough and pumping opener Shut Up. After the spooky intro you’re immediately get sucked into the intense SAVAGES sound. Wild and fury as in songs like I Am Here and She Will but also slightly disturbing as in slower songs like Waiting For A Sign. Beth’s magnificent organ is a mixture of Hayley Mary from THE JEZABELS and Karen O from the YEAH YEAH YEAHS while also being as original as possible to be the key factor in every song. The voice of Beth is fighting against the rolling drums, noisy guitar walls and pumping industrial bass. Like a permanent struggle, a fight against darkness. Silence Yourself feels restless, forced and it feels real.

There isn’t much beauty in the 38 minutes of SAVAGES‘ debut record. There are not catchy melodies, just pure and uncomplicated energy. “I took a beating tonight / and that was the best I am” claims Beth in the only one minute 43 seconds long Hit Me, singing hypnotically over a disturbing dark wall of sound. A positive form of frustration – maybe that is the lighter effect of Silence Yourself. That’s the reason why we should fall for this group, their attitude and worship the bravery to show the world a fist in form of a ugly mirror image. “This album is to be played loud in the foreground” is the final statement of the SAVAGES credo you’ve read above. This music has a presence that is impossible to be ignored – only one reason why we should start worshipping them.

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SAVAGES