Three years ago Les Savy Fav returned from an extended hiatus with the rollicking and infectious "Let's Stay Friends". The album wasn't so much a return to form, as it was a new beginning for the band. The band's angular art-punk was toned down and dipped in a pop sheen for easier, but no less satisfying, consumption. What remained was the band's undeniable energy matched only by their mind-boggling live performances. As a result, "Let's Stay Friends" lived up to its name, never seeming to wear out its welcome on the stereo. Now the band has released their follow up, "Root For Ruin," which, in a nutshell, is a continuation of the sound the band cultivated on "Let's Stay Friends," and while it may not reinvent the wheel, it finds the band tighter than they have ever been before, refining their sound into crystalline nuggets of addictive post-punk pop."Appetites" kicks the album off with guitarists Seth Jabour, Andrew Reuland and drummer Harrison Haynes stabbing at the air with angular hooks, riffs and beats that recalls Les Savy Fav of old before the song begins to take shape as a pop-punk barn burner, albeit one sewn from the sharp jagged angles of art-punk. Lead madman Tim Harrington leads the charge forward from this point in an ode to gluttony. He closes out the song quoting the Silver Jews "Punks in the Beerlight" screaming "I love you to the max." It's a unifying indie rock insider moment that elevates the already anthematic song into battle hymn territory for an army of beards and fixed-gear bikes.
The band continues to tear it up on the superb "Dirty Knails." A bit darker and more ferocious, but no less anthematic, the track mixes a dirty blues rhythm pattern with spider-web post-punk guitars. Harrington sings with the passion of a preacher at a religious revival, even intoning "Holy Ghost, come get me now, I wanna hear those church bells sound," before coming back to earth with the brutal "watch me grovel, watch me bruise, watch me crawl across the fucking floor for you". In typical Harrington fashion he is able to blend the profound with the profane seamlessly while never giving pause to the fist pumping rockers his maniacal vocals breath life into.
The band slows things down a bit on "Sleepless in Silverlake" and "Let's Get Out of Here," and while "Silverlake" may veer into filler territory, it's still better than most other bands' singles. "Let's Get Out of Here", on the other hand, is a perfect chunk of indie-pop. With an addictive chorus that recalls "Doolittle"-era Pixies, the song is one of the band's most straight-forward and accessible pieces to date, yet substantial enough to satisfy longtime fans. "Lips n' Stuff" is just as poppy, but more perverse, painting a picture of drug-fueled sex, and full of a grin-inducing lyrics.
Not every song is a pop-punk rager though. The band returns to their experimental roots with "Poltergeist" which sounds like no wave played by Spacemen 3 backed by A Silver Mt. Zion. Not surprisingly the track is an immediate standout, and a welcome one at that. For all their delirious pop-punk awesomeness, Les Savy Fav have always been much smarter than that. More than any other art-punk band, Les Savy Fav has the talent and ability to craft songs with more energy and inventiveness than anyone, save, maybe, Fugazi. "Poltergeist" is a prime example of what the band can do when they shed pop trappings and push the boundaries of their sound. Album closer "Clear Spirits" is another break away from pop for the band and toward something approximating Public Image Ltd.'s brand of post-punk, and while not as immediately satisfying as "Poltergeist" it's another reminder that Les Savy Fav is more than just a hopped up pop band.
Admittedly the album is backloaded with some truly forgettable filler. "Dear Crutches" and "Calm Down," are not really worthy of the Les Savy Fav catalog, but despite their dead weight, the album delivers up more great songs than most. What the band will do next, after what is sure to be a tour chock full of outrageous live shows, is anyone's guess. Whether they continue down this post-punk pop road, or whether they return to a more experimental art-punk stance, "Root For Ruin" makes it clear that they have the intelligence, energy and chops to do whatever the hell they damn well want and still please their audience.
"Appetites" live
"Let's Get Out of Here" live
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