savages: silence yourself

the highly anticipated debut from London’s Savages, an all-female four-piece who play music with scything energy and brutal power. Recorded with Rodaidh McDonald, the album is an 11-track, 38-minute masterpiece. Limned in black and white but containing a swell of different emotions within its self-imposed strictures, the songs cover topics from masochism (“Hit Me”), urban dread (“City’s Full”), materialism, possessiveness and the experience of being a woman (“Husbands,” “I Am Here”). Every one is delivered with fierce conviction and concision. They have cited a huge range of influences, including J.G. Ballard, the Gun Club, Silver Apples, Siouxsie, Wire, Black Sabbath, Mary Shelley and Kurt Vonnegut. In the words of the band: “Savages are a self-affirming voice to help experience our girlfriends differently, our husbands, our jobs, our erotic life, and the place music occupies into our lives. Savages’ songs aim to remind us that human beings haven’t evolved so much, that music can still be straight to the point, efficient and exciting.”