Savages – Silence Yourself

The soberly dressed ladies comprising this London-based quartet present something of a refreshing anomaly in contemporary British music. Who else out there is making staccato, Gang of Four-influenced post-punk with this much attitude? And wasn't that revival killed off in 2005? Savages are taking us back by force. 

Although it remains to be seen whether their presence will bring the gloomier end of 80s fashion crawling out from its grave (again), there's no doubting Silence Yourself backs up the initial bark of their show-stopping double A-side from last summer.

Cathedral-shaking stop/start bass is ever present and Jehnny Beth's gutteral howl gives Siouxsie Sioux a run for her money in the twitching banshee stakes, never more so than on She Will. Influences may be clear, and certainly never hidden, but in amongst the spindly guitar work are some weighty riffs – I Am Here would worry Tad Doyle’s speaker stack – and plenty of pop nous. Time to dust off those Bauhaus t-shirts with pride. [Stu Lewis]