Silence Yourself marks substantial growth from Savages’ debut single “Flying to Berlin“, which grafted a goth skin onto Joy Division muscle. The tension between instruments pilots the record.
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Duncan, San Francisco 09/01/2013
…their major tropes are undeniably post-punk, but they also call to mind PJ Harvey, Pixies, early Jane’s Addiction — bands which seemed to spring fully formed from the heads of their members and were immediately impossible to ignore… These gals are the most exciting new band I’ve heard or seen in ages.
05/06/2013
Savages’ primal, post-punk-inspired sound demands your full attention. From the get-go, Silence Yourself is no warm-hearted embrace of a record — its first song is called “Shut Up,” and then there’s that title. But theirs isn’t an empty confrontation; the British band delivers in spades with songs that dive into your bloodstream and live in you before you know it. “I Am Here” declares itself as a bearing for what’s to come, as if frontwoman Jehnny Beth is grabbing your hand and coaxing you toward your own future. “I am here, no more fear, no more dark shadows, let it come,” she sings chillingly in a mid-range trill somewhere between Siouxsie, Jeff Buckley and Rush’s Geddy Lee. Her band works into a froth that leads to an inevitable conclusion of Ayse Hassan’s pulverizing bass and Fay Milton’s bashing drums while Beth and guitarist Gemma Thompson trade ghostly exchanges above. Silence Yourself isn’t entirely full-throttle though; as any good post-punk devotee knows, the trick is pairing those moments with eerie, atmospheric tunes, and that’s exactly what Savages do, allowing for songs like “Waiting for a Sign,” which summons a combination of apocalyptic sound from Thompson’s guitar and Beth’s banshee wail, while Hassan and Milton keep things anchored in a glacial groove. “Dead Nature” follows, full of empty, echoing dread; these two songs allow the record to reach a midpoint of hollowed-out intensity before ratcheting back up the energy, on songs like “She Will,” which starts as the friendliest and danciest song on the record, until they make that chorus into an uncompromising sexual tirade. “Hit Me” and “Husbands” round out the album by allowing the band to play with full abandon. In the latter, Beth takes the confines of marriage and makes them into a virtual prison, crying “husbands” in frightening, alien repetition. The album’s piano-led, cabaret-esque closer, “Marshall Dear,” speaks great promise of Savages, as Beth goes lower in register and more operatic and the band tempers its great noise-making capabilities. It’s a riveting debut record from start to finish. We knew it was gonna be good judging by the advance press and last year’s I Am Here live EP, but Silence Yourself still smashes expectations and leaves you sitting in smoke, begging for more.
Track Listing
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Silence Yourself is the debut studio album by the English post-punk band Savages, released on 6 May 2013 on Matador Records and Pop Noire, a label owned by vocalist Jehnny Beth.[2] It was nominated for the 2013 Mercury Prize.
Music and style[edit]
Critics made a parallel with British post-punk of the late 1970s, Magazine and Gang of Four. NME wrote that 'French frontwoman Jehnny Beth has moulded herself into the demonic, possessed spawn of Ian Curtis and Siouxsie Sioux'.[3]Uncut retrospectively said about the music: 'It is a bit Siouxsie, a bit Stranglers, a bit Magazine – and after a decade-odd of bands reviving the sounds and strategies of post-punk'.[4]
Reception[edit]
Silence Yourself received widespread critical acclaim upon its release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 82, based on 36 reviews, indicating 'universal acclaim'.[6]
In the United Kingdom, the album reached No. 19 on the charts. In the United States, the album debuted at No. 70 on the Billboard 200,[15] and No. 20 on the Rock Albums chart.[16] The album has sold 43,000 copies in the US as of December 2015.[17]
In 2019, Pitchfork ranked Silence Yourself at number 178 on their list of 'The 200 Best Albums of the 2010s'; senior editor Stacey Anderson wrote: 'Silence Yourself carries every bit of [Savages' live show] adrenaline; in its coiled, sparking guitars and rabid screams, it warns of the dangers of technology while weaponizing its potential.'[18]
Track listing[edit]
All tracks are written by Savages.
Personnel[edit]
All personnel credits adapted from Silence Yourself's album notes.[19]
Chart positions[edit]
References[edit]
External links[edit]
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Silence_Yourself&oldid=933165756'
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