Savages Husbands

Much has been written about Savages' post-punk aesthetic and commitment to the long-forgotten principles of complete sonic immersion. Putting aside the fact that the band members would prefer not to gaze out at a sea of iPhones and cameras while they're performing, the some questions remain: Are they any good? Does their music live up to their ideology and aesthetic?

Refreshingly, the answer is a resounding yes. Debut LPSilence Yourselfis a jagged slice of ballsy post-punk with just enough of a modern touch to make them more than a retro throwback. The band's sound is for the most part studiously spare, with just enough syncopated beats, driving bass and artfully placed shards of noisy guitar to complement singer Jehnny Beth's nuanced vocal performance.

Although every band member contributes something essential to the mix, Beth is the highlight. On lead single "Husbands," she demonstrates considerable versatility, communicating as much with a foreboding whisper as a bracing shriek. The chorus, if you can call it that, encapsulates Savages' songwriting approach quite well, conveying an amalgam of conflicting emotions in a minimalistfashion. You can feel Beth straining against the shackles of heteronormativity (for all of you gender studies majors out there) with every repetition of the song's title.

Yet, there is also an accompanying sense of fear and vulnerability. The song's protagonist is not simply dismissing a cultural institution out of rebelliousness or apathy. She seems to be wrestling with a real emotional dilemma, one that is growing increasingly common in a time where some of feminism's core ideals about independence are coming into conflict with the allure of a traditional family structure.

In this way, Savages transcend the often bloodless sloganeering prominent among Riot Grrl bands that addressed similar subject matter with less nuance. While it would be reductive to draw blanket conclusions about a subject as complex and multifaceted as feminism from one song, Jehnny Beth's lyrics, and those of similarly-minded bands, seem to suggest that feminist musicians have grown sufficiently comfortable in their own skin to admit that, decades after second-wave feminism transformed the way we think about gender roles, the question of how to reconcile some of its core doctrines with the potential benefits and trappings of a traditional relationship is a highly individual affair that no theoretical doctrine can entirely address.