There has been a lot of buzz surrounding Savages new album, “Silence Yourself”. I’m usually skeptical about albums with a lot of hype surrounding them, but when the key words surrounding the hype include “post-punk” and “gothic”, and strong comparisons to bands like Bauhaus and Joy Division are thrown around, I am forced to investigate.
Sure enough, “Silence Yourself” lives up to it. Sure, it helps if you’re a fan of early 80’s new romantic, post-punk, gothic rock, but this album really does rock. It does bring a very strong, solid modern vibe with its clean production and heavy delivery. Most of the songs only work as comparisons to Joy Division by way of their heavier tracks like “In the Flat Fields” or “Transmission”.
There are a lot of these throwback bands invoking the spirit of the 80’s and it is a pattern I am quite enjoying since I grew up in the 80’s and most of my early music discovery was in that time period. Fascinating to watch how cultures shift, as if this album had come out in the 90’s, they may have been labeled a knock-off, despite the fact this this is very clearly not the case. This is music that is most certainly inspired by the period, and is at best a kind homage but is really a fresh take on the whole concept. That the audience is now more receptive to it, versus how this would have been received fifteen years ago is quite fascinating to me. I welcome the change in perspective.
The vocals by Jehnny Beth are extremely powerful, and she really carries a lot of weight song to song. After eleven tracks, I’m wanting more so, Savages is doing something right. Count me as a fan, I will most certainly be looking forward to any new material they put out.