It’s always something special when an album drops on your desk, you nothing about the band, and then said record proceeds to blow your socks off.
Take a bow then Brooklyn based post punk rockers SAVAK for being the first band in quite some time to do just this for me. They are a band I admit I almost skipped over, but thank God I didn’t, because ‘Human Error / Human Delight’ – the band’s upcoming FIFTH (yup I know) album – is an absolute cracker from start to finish.
‘No Blues No Jazz’ (which actually sounds like the record player rules in my house) kicks things off in fine style and with its’ chanted refrain of “No counties, no countries, no pledge of allegiance,” it could be a tribute to the fact that the dozen tracks contained on the album were recorded entirely over Zoom, although it’s not, I’ll leave you to go figure what it’s actually all about by hitting video link below, where all will soon be revealed.
Influence wise ‘Human Error / Human Delight’ really is all over the place, and that’s really what hooked me in, it also sets it well apart from the many other new “rawk” records I could have chosen to review. Be it the melodic Alt-rock delights of perhaps the most immediate track on the album (the truly excellent) ‘Empathy’, or the jammed-out Krautrock meets Detroit in a sleazy Manchester back-alley post punk of ‘Set Apart’, there really is something here for pretty much everyone…well everyone with an open musical mind that is.
As the album literally flies by song hooks come at you thick and fast with the likes of ‘Baltimore Moon’ and ‘Dealers’ bristling with overdriven guitar and glorious vocal harmonies, this really is American guitar rock par excellence. Well, when it wants to be. It’s the subtle twists the album throws you via the likes of the Angelo Badalamenti-tinged atmospherics of closing track ‘Dumbinance’ or the initial downbeat 4AD bass throb of ‘Oddsmaker’ that really take things to the next level and has me returning for multiple listens.
With a history of playing in bands like Obits, The Cops and Holy Fuck, Sohrab Habibion and Michael Jaworski, along with drummer Matt Schulz, have moulded the SAVAK sound (in their own words) as straddling the line between ‘Be Bop a Lula’ and ‘Wap Shoo Wap’ whilst connecting the dots between The Adverts to Bubble Puppy to The 101’ers to MDC, and you know what? They sound absolutely bloody amazing doing it!
‘Human Error / Human Delight’ is released on 15th April 2022, but you can check it out right now via the Bandcamp link below. Get on it folks – this album is very special indeed!
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Author: Johnny Hayward
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