Les Savy Fav
What is it?: Inches is a compilation of the singles put out by the New York art-punk band Les Savy Fav between the years 1995 and 2004. It is sequenced in reverse order of the time the songs were originally released and allows the listener to see how the musically volatile band made subtle tweaks to their sound over that timeframe while also occasionally gambling on some interestingly left-field experimentation here and there. When played through from the beginning, the result is a seventy-minute head trip of bruising punk, anthemic gang vocals, and blast-off hooks.
Why isn’t it on vinyl?: OK, you got me. It kind of is…but not in the way that it should be. Inches’ title comes at least partly from the fact that all the songs had previously been released on 7” single records. So, from a purely technical point of view, it is theoretically possible to go find and buy all these in their original 7” forms and voila, one would have all the songs “on vinyl.”
But here’s the thing. I came to this release in its already-assembled-Voltron-mecha-God-level form, and that had to be the case for many people due to the lack of availability of specialty independent 7” records. One might have been able to find three or four of them outside the New York Tri-state area, but the likelihood of finding them all would be zero, or mighty close to zero provided your local record shop owner wasn’t an unabashed Savy disciple or Frenchkiss aficionado. For the great majority of us, Inches served as its own piece of work, and one that gave back as much as each listener put into it.
Why should it be?: Les Savy Fav’s decade-in-the-making masterwork should be presented in LP format because it is first and foremost an absurdly strong collection of music. From the opening smack of synth on “Meet Me In The Dollar Bin” to the proselytizing of “Knowing How The World Works” to the rousing optimism of “Our Coastal Hymn”, it is quite possible that there is no better introduction to an established band.
The fact is that there are bucketloads of talent in this group, and I don’t want to minimize or downplay that in any way, but my major takeaway was always the indefatigable energy of frontman Tim Harrington. Even on recorded songs he can deliver the sweatiness and bravado of carrying a sold-out Bowery Ballroom headlining gig. Or he can imbue songs with the cringing creepiness of an undertaker as he does on parts of “Hello Halo, Goodbye Glands.” That one can play the collection through and listen to him evolve (or devolve due to the reverse chronology) over time is pretty magical, and the ridiculous tightness of the rest of the band is icing on top of icing.
As much as any of these other things, Inches plays as though it were an album from start to finish. While some might prefer to think of it as a double-album due to its length, there is the undeniable cohesion of LSF growing stronger and more proficient over time. One can hear in this collection the jaded, seen-it-all cynicism of a group of punks turn by degrees into the professionalism and songcraft of a group of likeminded musicians who love what they’re doing together. What more could we ask from any album? And what better way to enjoy any album than on vinyl?
