Les Savy Fav - Root for Ruin

Sound-a-likes: Franz Ferdinand, Tapes 'n Tapes, Tokyo Police Club, Japandroids, The Futureheads, Bloc Party, Royal Bangs

That's a pretty attractive set of sound-a-likes up there, isn't it? I'd say Root for Ruin is a healthy balance of the elements that bring those bands together; simple but engaging melodies, angry lyrics that are on the verge of being yelled at times, a quick pace to most songs, overlapping/spacey guitars, and shuffling drums that move the songs along. In a few words, simple, flat indie punk rock. But there's something so irresistibly catchy about that combo that makes listening to just a fragment of a song without getting hooked very hard.

Basically, Root for Ruin is very appealing to lovers of this type of music and to relative newcomers to Les Savy Fav (like me), but it's not the 3-dimensional record that hardcore fans of this band might have been hoping for.



-Julian