Let's Stay Friends

by

Les Savy Fav

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Les Savy Fav's previous release, "Inches", was not an album but a singles collection. Due to its sequencing of newest to oldest, it was easy to forget since it all held together so well. With "Let's Stay Friends", it sometimes feels like the opposite. The opener "Pots and Pans" serves the statement of intent purpose that "Meet Me in The Dollar Bin" did but after that it seems that all bets are off. By picking up the thread from Go Forth, the last full length, LSF are throwing new elements into the mix all over the place. And to further throw us off, the lyrics are far more direct than before. The mood here is more upbeat than what I had come to expect. Yes there are bits of darkness around the edges but this seems to be more about the joy of performance and a sense of comaraderie in the band. And the music gives us that in spades. The music and vocals just fuse together effortlessly. And believe trying to explain what it sounds like to a novice is not easy. You can throw out a bunch of names but nothing really gets it all. You could write paragraphs on the sound of Seth Jambour's guitars alone. Echoing without being dub, fractured but not noise, psychedelic but not noodlingly are good descriptors but, damn! They have a style which points in a lot of directions but it's simply their own. It has the post punk need to experiement and bring new colors to the palette. It has the aggressive force of mid nineties guitar rock before it descended into the cartoonish heavier than thou poses of nu-metal. There is a quirky and humane quality behind all the bombast. On the downside, it may take a couple spins for it to find its way into your skull. And don't bother reading the lyric sheet either. I think it works better coming in through the ear than the eye. Personally I like the 2nd half of the album better. A fun record that doesn't feel stupid. I think there one of the best rock bands going today. For aging indie kids like me anyhow. Four and 1/2 stars.

These guys are real artists trying to push the envelope with artistry. A fair comparison would be to them to what "Public Image Limited" was doing in the 1970's (I hate Johnny Lydon, but I love the musicians and what they were doing with dub).

This music is not easy to digest but this stuff is the real deal. These guys are true artists pushing emotion and angst, a strong sense of funky rhythm, angular instrumental lines and a ton of attitude into music that can be challenging yet also is, for the most part, pretty accessible. "Patty Lee' is the highlight.