Music Review: Savages - Adore Life

London post-punk "revival" (so quoted because they sound and feel more like an original 80s UK post-punk group than the 2000s revivalist groups in the vein of Franz Ferdinand and the like) Savages have returned with a new album, Adore Life. The album follows on the heels of their very successful debut album, 2013's Silence Yourself.

Savages have released their second album, Adore Life

Silence Yourself carried a very traditional post-punk sound and aesthetic, drawing heavy influence from groups like Siouxsie and the Banshees and Joy Division. While a strong album, it was a bit light in the experimental nature that surrounded the original 80s post-punk genre. Adore Life brings that experimental nature to the forefront, resulting in a dynamic album that effortlessly navigates faster, traditional post-punk tunes through slower, ballad-like numbers, all without losing the listener or leading to the often ill-fated "never-ending-album-will-someone-please-turn-it-off" syndrome that over-experimentation can cause.

Adore Life opens with "The Answer," a distortion-laden song revolving around love and adoration. The song presents a larger focus with a driving bass line supplied by Ayse Hassan and a guitar solo from Gemma Thompson. The frantic guitar throughout the song strongly parallels singer Jehnny Beth's vocals with lines like "I'll go insane / Please stand up / What is the point?" which detail some of the struggle in determining how someone feels about you.

Savages. L-R: Fay Milton (drums), Jehnny Beth (front, vocals), Ayse Hassan (back, bass), Gemma Thompson (guitar)

"Evil" starts off with an interplay between Hassan and Thompson that sounds vaguely similar to Killing Joke's "New Cold War" from Pylon (2015), though minus the heavy distortion industrial-leaning sound. Fay Milton on drums rounds out this number, providing a solid background with minor layers of detail that enriches the song further.

What makes Savages, in my opinion, more like the original post-punk bands and less like the modern "revival" post-punk bands is how many of the songs are highly bass-driven. "Evil" is just one example with "Sad Person" being another. Bands like Bauhaus and Joy Division are largely loved on a music level due to this somewhat unique quality, where the bass and drums provide much of the meat and drive of a song with guitar adding little flourishes here and there.

The album's title track opts for a slower, more reflective tone, led largely by Hassan on bass. Beth's lyrics center around a question of humanity and whether the idea of adoring/valuing life is unique to people and contemplates on past actions and whether it was best to do those, even if they led to negative endings, resolving that even if you have regrets, you lived life, you adore life because you continue on.

Adore Life continues in much the same manner as the early songs, offering driving music matched to Beth's Siouxsie Sioux-esque vocals. Songs like "When In Love" and "Surrender" deserve additional praise, the first for one of Thompson's opportunities to shine on guitar, and the latter for a very synth-layered bass backing from Hassan that nods back to 80s new wave meets darkwave sentiments.

Savages are set to tour this spring in support of the new album, reaching Dallas on April 11, playing at Trees. With two strong albums under their belt, and perhaps the only band to play an amazing show at 8am on a Tuesday morning, this is not a show to miss. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased here.