Savages – ‘City’s Full’
Thank you, Beacons Festival. As the Far Out team gear up to descend upon those maddening fields, we have been given the chance to peruse the lineup and select our track of the day from this burgeoning, bustling group. This has, in turn, given me time to revisit one of my favourite bands of the year: Savages and their smog-filled track ‘City’s Full’.
Taken from the debut LP Silence Yourself, this track is as gloom-filled and grit-ridden as any of their work. But like the rest of the album, it is driven by autonomous bass and fuzz-filled riffs, as Jehnny Beth and the gang try to pierce a hole in the side of your head with their six-inch stilettos.
‘City’s Full’ starts with thundering bass and unrelenting drums delivered as a vehement wake-up call to be delivered to the female population as the girls denote the dehumanising positions young girls put themselves in. In the breakdown, Beth even lists the ugly things she loves about women in her aggressive tone and heartfelt moans; it’s quite empowering, even for me. Then, POW! We are dropped back into the fury of a woman scorned.
Savages are a must-see for this year’s Beacons festival; not only are they as charged as Siouxsie Sioux on an electric fence, but they have the professionalism and composure to make sure ‘the show will go on’.
I recently saw Savages perform at Primavera in Barcelona, and despite the virile, visceral power of the band (all dressed in black, excluding red stilettos) and the thunderous quality of the songs and performance: there was a serious problem with Gemma’s guitar leaving the band with 5,000 people to entertain. This resulted in a robot-like display of rhythm as the rest of the band slowly massaged the crowd into a false sense of security. Until the guitar is plugged, and yep, you guessed it, POW!
Savages are determined for you to hear their music. They want to make you dance like a 1980s icon, they want you to screw your face in recognition of rhythm, they want to put a finger in your brain and swirl it around, and they want you to enjoy it. If you’re like me, you will.
Check out the track below.
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