Les Savy Fav: Oui, LSF

“We were there when the world got great / We helped to make it that way,” declares Tim Harrington on World Got Great – the barnstorming closing track on Les Savy Fav’s first full-length album in 14 years, Oui, LSF. A bolt from the blue for some; expected and much-anticipated for others, but most will agree that this level of optimism underlines the fact that the world needs Les Savy Fav more than ever.

Following the first lockdown and having spent a day with a friend that involved too much alcohol, by the end of the night we’d somehow booked a trip to the Primavera’s two-week stanza in Barcelona. Fast-forward eight months, and the first performance of the epic two-week event was none other than Les Savy Fav.

Emerging from their own form of obscurity, it was a set you’d expect (or not). Harrington, forever the joker and leader in every sense; this time his antics involved being crowd-surfed atop of an industrial-sized wooden table through the guts of the crowd in front of the Binance stage. As always, there were laughs, cheers, and collective dismay. Prime time Les Savy Fav, and a performance that was the catalyst for what would become Oui, LSF.

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In many ways, the band’s live show antics are something that has also overshadowed them. Yes, it’s all funny and carefree and a part of the Les Savy Fav DNA but, more importantly, it’s the songs that make this band what it is, and over a 30 year career, they have belted out some of the best in the indie-rock pantheon.

Since 1995, Les Savy Fav (Harrington – vocals; Seth Jabour – guitars; Syd Butler – bass and co-founder of the band’s longtime label Frenchkiss; Andrew Reuland – guitars; and Harrison Haynes – drums) have adorned the record collections of many around the world. A mishmash of ideas born from different personalities, which has birthed cult classics such as The Cat &The Cobra (1999), Go Forth (2001) and the revered singles compilation, Inches (2004).

To these ears, though, 2007’s Let’s Stay Friends is not only Les Savy Fav’s most underrated document, but also their best, and Oui, LSF hits some of that energy.

Along with their playful, frenetic take on art-punk, Les Savy Fav have always maintained a razor-sharp self-awareness, and once again it’s on display here, led by the epic takedown on capitalism during Oi! Division (“Looking at the ledger is like looking at a hearse”, and “You have to network if you want to get work.”). Then there’s the bombastic orchestral punk of What We Don’t Don’t Want, a complete clusterfuck to untangle, as Harrington’s clever wordplay outguns any algorithm conceived from Silicon Valley.

Backtracking, and it all begins with the electro siren call of Guzzle Blood. “I’m looking for some kind of saviour but no one’s coming around / I’m guzzling the the blood of Jesus, but Jesus man it’s bringing me down,” sings Harrington – a contrast to Oui, LSF’s bookend where the hopefulness of World Got Great is quite a world away here.

In between the desolation and euphoria is classic LSF. Billed by Harrington as “sex-ghost story”, Limo Scene is staple Les Savy Fav, while the swarming buzz-saw guitars of Legendary Tippers and the melodic, thumping rhythms of Somebody Needs A Hug all hit the right frequencies, causing an endorphin rush.

Meanwhile, the thrumming energy of the astrological-inspired Void Mood sees Harrington rifling through the scrap book, and here he unveils a tale where séances and widows feature in something dark and mysterious; themes explored thanks to the bumps and scrapes that we all sustain with age.

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Mischief Night is what it says on the tin. A shotgun tale that echoes Bonnie and Clyde but is more like an Elmore Leonard yarn. And while love appears further down the menu on Don’t Mind Me, it’s far more of a tainted dish. One of the few heartbreak ballads that pulls away from the band’s democratic core, here Harrington goes deep down the well (“The world’s so hard / And we’re so soft / We try so hard to stay aloft / But girl we’re falling / So fast it blinds / You used to love / Now you just don’t mind me”).

It’s these slower moments on Oui, LSF that sees the band cover new terrain. The atmospheric swoon of Dawn Patrol, which is steeped in nostalgia and old world lust (“If the world ends this morning / I’m pretty much fine”), while the countrified rock of Nihilists feels like Les Savy Fav have spent the last couple of years spending quality time with the discography of fellow New York dwellers, Suss.

The road is left wide open for World Got Great. Perhaps the anthem of 2024, with Broken Social Scene-like elation, the band comes out of the other side of the storm. It really is a moment to savour, and while 14 years have passed since Root for Ruin, Les Savy Fav still manage to find a new way while still being themselves. This latest version, wiser and more sentimental, possessing a songcraft that transcends above the stigma that has been levelled at them over the years as live novelty act.

On the fringe of the catastrophe this world is seemingly on course for, it’s the small victories that should be celebrated the most. And the return of Les Savy Fav feels like one of them.

Oui, LSF is out now via Frenchkiss Records / The Orchard. Purchase here.