Les Savy Fav Root for Ruin LP (Opaque Aqua Vinyl)

Known for years as one of the most ferocious live acts in existence, Les Savy Fav got together at RISD in Providence in 1995. Since then, they have become underground mainstays with their combination of anxious rhythms and sardonic lyrics thanks to lead singer Tim Harrington.

Les Savy Fav has, for the most part, remained a word-of-show, fanatical-fan-driven band. They have done it on their own, in the old-fashioned way, touring and making music. They aren't too cool for any school.

With its fifth album, Root for Ruin, the art rock outfit continues with the sound that made Let's Stay Friends such a refreshing change for the band, refining its angular sound with pop polish. This slower, more melodic approach really shines on 'Let's Get Out of Here,' a laid-back, Pixies-influenced track that almost casually rises and falls, showing off the band's ability to take a chord progression and mine it for all its worth, coaxing out a breezy verse and an incredibly catchy hook that sound like they could be lost tracks from Doolittle.

Root For Ruin, the group's first record in three years, cements Les Savy Fav as winners in both lights, as serious post post-punk and as fun-loving, party-starting fare. The album manages both to be distinctly a Les Savy Fav album while pushing the boundaries of the sound you would come to expect from the group. As the opening song clearly states, the band still has their appetite and the new record is anything but phoned-in. There are no clunkers in the bunch. Every song could stand on its own...