 There's been an undeniable amount of catching-up in the press with this band over the last year. During a 4 year hiatus between this record's original release and last year's effort 'Let's Stay Friends' more and more die hard fans made their voices heard about how they believed Les Savy Fav are one of the greatest in the game. As a result, more and more people took notice, including those of the more mainstream press who decided to jump on the bandwagon quick and claim that "oh yeah, I've always loved the 'Fav, I think I saw them live back in '99 and I'm pretty sure it was amazing', which meant the imminent release of 'Let's Stay Friends' had the perfect platform to reach a larger and, whisper it, more mainstream audience - resulting in a pretty succesful year for LSF.
Of course, the 'Fav are by no means a mainstream band, nor did they particuarly endorse any of this activity, what's refreshing about this band and what this record is good at proving is how this band would be doing what they were doing wether anyone was taking notice or not, hell, they have been since 1995. But what has happened is that their audience has shifted. The original fan base twitched a bit when they found out 'Let's Stay Friends' was a lot more approachable than previous efforts; some of them losing the faith entirely, and those who took their place were the young and the hip of Camden and Shoreditch turning the 'Fav into a very cool band to be "into" (not that they weren't anyway) and as a result the crowd you see at a 'Fav show now a days is a mix of the old reserve, and the guys who are perhaps into it for reasons other than music.
All this considered then, this repress of 'Inches' (note: it's not actually been released in the UK) is a perfectly timed one. Realising this was an excellent climate to release, what some still consider an utter triumph of a record/anthology/experiment (call it what you will), and some very clever marketing on someone's behalf means this very well could propell The 'Fav into the big leagues (finally, some would argue).
But aside from all this wierd, almost nostalgic hype that now surrounds this band, the point is this album is still crammed full of total gems and is definitely the next place to go if you loved 'Let's Stay Friends'. It's a lot more dense than that record (18 tracks each from it's own 2 track single means there is a lot to digest here) but it very much seems that going back is the way forward in appreciating what makes this band special.
The production and snappyness of this fantastically melody-laden post-punk songs is what makes this record special, let alone the brilliant musicianship and songwriting craft from every member. 'Meet me in the Dollar Bin' is still a great opener, 'The Sweat Descends' is still a fantastic pop song, 'Hello Halo, Goodbye Glands' is still creepy and alluring, 'Yawn, Yawn, Yawn' still has all it's nostalgic swing, 'No Sleeves' & 'Rodeo' still rock the fuck out, and 'Reformat' is still terrifying (if a little cheesy) and this is only scratching the surface.
Still a fantastically intriguing experiment, with so much to discover and love, it is a wonderfully rewarding record that will keep you occupied for a long time to come. Fucking Cool.
 Adam Turner-Heffer
Les Savy Fav site: http://www.lessavyfav.com/ |
| Coding: Darren Burrows