PREMIERE: SAVAK share video for new single 'Up With The Sun'

Friday, March 1, 2024 - 07:13

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Thomas

Brooklyn indie rockers SAVAK still have plenty to say after five LPs, an EP, a handful of 7”s, and a couple of split releases. Case in point: the band's new album ’Flavors Of Paradise,’ out today on Peculiar Works / Ernest Jenning Record Co. (order your copy). Also today, we are psyched to premiere the video for the band’s latest single, ‘Up With The Sun.’Check out the video below and don’t be surprised if Michael Stipe’s spastic dance moves pop up in your head.

“Up With The Sun” is a jangly and uplifting song that wouldn’t be out of place on an early R.E.M. record,” says the band's Michael Jaworski. “Balancing melancholy and hope, the lyrics address accepting the present while dreaming of a brighter future; searching for enlightenment while ruminating on the mundane.”

“I wanted to make a video for Savak about magic tricks but anytime it rains in LA it is magic,” adds video director John von Pamer (who also makes music as JOHN 21:26 and as part of Gas Rain and Tsunami). “I've held onto a large collection of sunset photos I collected over 20 years ago for some reason. Thanks to Savak I can now deaccession them from my ‘collection’”.

‘Flavors Of Paradise,’ was recorded in Chicago at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio studio without Steve Albini. For a band that has toured Europe five times and never set foot in California, recording 12 songs in 3 days was a breeze across the Danube. The band hunkered down, jammed out ideas in 2 marathon sessions, played a couple of shows to test drive the new material and then got to work with Matthew Barnhart (Superchunk, Bob Mould). No guests, no edits, no country and definitely no funk—the record is lean, spacious and lively.

Over the course of eleven songs, the band comfortably takes on marriage, espionage, self-reflection, credit (or lack of), sympathy, absurdity, vulnerability, polarization, dogs . . . dogs? Yes. Sure, it’s probably a metaphor, but—woof woof—SAVAK is equally comfortable at the dog park as they are browsing the local used bookstore.

There are recognizable touchstones across electric guitar-based music from the 60s to today. The jagged stabs of The Fall are tempered by harmonies you might hear in a Flamin’ Groovies tune. A nod to The 13th Floor Elevators is purposefully undercut with a riff that'd make Wilko Johnson proud. You can pull out details that wouldn’t be out of place in songs by Royal Headache, Stereolab, NoMeansNo, Feelies, Stooges, Kinks, Mission of Burma, etc. If the guitar can do it, SAVAK is willing to find a way to use it.

SAVAK formed in 2015 by Sohrab Habibion (Obits, Edsel) and Michael Jaworski (The Cops, Virgin Islands), who play guitars and trade off singing songs, along with drummer Matt Schulz (Holy Fuck, Enon). The live band features Jeff Gensterblum (Small Brown Bike, Her Heads On Fire) on drums and bassist Matt Hunter (New Radiant Storm King, Silver Jews).