The post-punk of SAVAK seems an expansion of what one might have heard here in D.C. in the mid-Nineties. However, rather than simply revel in math rock intricacies, the fellows in SAVAK are just as interested in texture as prowess, emotion as precision. The band's newest album, the wonderfully-titled Rotting Teeth in the Horse's Mouth, out on Friday via Ernest Jenning Record Co., is a slab of grooves which batter their way into your ears when they are not insinuating themselves in a more subtle fashion.
"Vis-à-vis" is pure energy, bits of Joy Division and Gang of Four heard here in something a good deal more accessible than the songs of those pioneers, while the bright "Listening", with backing vocals from Scott McCloud (Soul Side, Girls Against Boys), is even better. The mix by Geoff Sanoff helps here, but the music is not comparable to the power-pop of Dot Dash, another band with D.C. roots which Sanoff's worked with lately. SAVAK, even on the invigorating "What is Compassion?", imbue things with the sort of heft we'd have found on any number of late Nineties releases on Dischord.
That weighty post-punk vibe highlights the connections to the D.C. scene in the pasts of these players, but there's something sleek and pristine about the wonderfully-catchy "Aujourd'hui" that certainly removes any easy harDCore comparisons from the mind of a (possibly) lazy reviewer like me. The members of SAVAK -- Sohrab Habibion (Edsel), Michael Jaworski (The Cops), and Matt Schulz (Lake Ruth) -- are energetic musicians, and they give material like "Bayonet" the kind of punch that will feel familiar to lots of us, and the same goes for the peppy "It's Mutual". Still, the R.E.M.-echoing "How Many Duchesses" takes things in another direction even as "I Came Alive" goes in the neighborhood of Wire.
A reviewer of Rotting Teeth in the Horse's Mouth is liable to stress the big riffs here, the force of the hooks, and power that fuels this whole machine. But to do that is to neglect the portions of the record that are less obvious, like the elegant "We've Been Disappearing" with its string arrangement from Michael Hampton (The Faith, One Last Wish, Snakes). The cut is gorgeous, with cello from Hampton's daughter Charlotte Hampton, and one of the real highlights here. Mind you, there's nothing wrong with the many, many numbers on this new SAVAK record which feel like a fist to the solar-plexus, but sometimes a gentler touch works too. To their credit, SAVAK remain committed to mastering the multiple moods and textures of the post-punk form.
Rotting Teeth in the Horse's Mouth is out on Friday via Ernest Jenning Record Co.
More details on SAVAK via the band's official Facebook page, or the band's official website.
[Photo: Taylor Sesselman]