Coachella 2013 artist spotlight: Savages

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Last year’s blockbuster U.K. import conquered the States in part via time-tested flattery: Like Zeppelin, Cream and other predecessors, Mumford & Sons pitched themselves as Brits obsessed with American roots music. Savages, on the other hand, owe their transatlantic success to a particularly London-centric brand of hipness. The xx—with whom Savages share an androgynous look and a general aura of romantic gloom—has won a legion of U.S. fans thanks to a similar aesthetic, but while that group favors hushed seduction, this all-female quartet traffics in grab-you-by-the-throat urgency. “Husbands,” which surfaced last year on Savages’ debut seven-inch, contrasts a tense bass/drums throb with a melodic-noise eruption courtesy guitarist Gemma Thompson. Jehnny Beth’s incantatory chant-snarl completes this three-minute neopostpunk master class, instantly reminiscent of Siouxsie and the Banshees and other arty late-’70s touchstones yet, much like the Mumfords, far too assured to write off as a mere retread.

The toast of New York's CMJ Music Marathon 2012, Savages were that rare band that surfed into NYC on a tidal wave of hype, then out on an even more massive one. The band has yet to issue a proper full-length—the live 12-inch I Am Here is the heftiest Savages dispatch to date—but it shouldn’t feel any need to rush that step. None among Savages’ stateside demographic would dispute that the quartet has, in both senses, arrived.—Hank Shteamer

Savages play Coachella Saturday April 13 and Saturday April 20.

 Download "Savages" on Amazon
 Download "Husbands" on Amazon

Follow Hank Shteamer on Twitter: @DarkForcesSwing

Portions of this article originally appeared in Time Out New York on March 14, 2013.

The xx		Metric		The Lumineers		Hot Chip		Beach House		The Gaslight Anthem
Grimes		Dead Can Dance		Jake Bugg		Maya Jane Coles		The Faint		Father John Misty
Danny Brown		Japandroids		TNGHT		Poliça		Palma Violets		JEFF the Brotherhood
Aesop Rock		Divine Fits		Tanlines		Rodriguez		Savages		El-P