Given that it’s been more than ten years since they last released music, Rhode Island-bred rock forerunners Les Savy Fav are making a sudden return with a new US tour, video, and single, “World Got Great,” off their upcoming sixth album OUI, LSF, out May 10th via Frenchkiss/The Orchard.
Contrary to the gap between OUI, LSF and Root for Ruin, the hiatus for Tim Harrington, Syd Butler, Seth Jabour, Harrison Haynes, and Andrew Reuland was simply a matter of dedicating their time to other responsibilities, whether it was raising families or working jobs. It’s why it should come as no surprise that “World Got Great” and the three other singles released leading up to the new album prove they’re returning with both something to say and crowds to shake.
Violently cutting through with a scathing guitar, “World Got Great” finds the band back as if they never left, leaning heavily into their roots as Harrington similarly sounds in top form. While Harrington’s shouty vocals match the boisterous stage presence he’s known for, the chorus stuns for how it could have easily been passed off as coming from any number of songs released decades past. More than their first single, “Legendary Tippers,” “World Got Great” scratches that early aughts itch for a time that’s so often evoked yet rarely captured, unless by bands who were there.
The endearingly childlike visuals for “World Got Great” complement the song’s sense of somewhere to be, with the camera zipping through the cardboard cutouts of the band and kaijus attacking a city. Directed by Emmy-award winner Jimbo Matison, who wanted the music video to use simple materials like crayons and a phone, the finished product is nothing short of impressive and serves as an example of less being more.
BEST CONCERTS IN LOS ANGELES THIS MONTH
With much of the band’s original 1995 lineup still intact, Les Savy Fav coming back for OUI, LSF was a long process on its own. For songs like “World Got Great,” they gradually came together following a reunion set at Primavera Sound 2022. Two years later, they’re playing a slew of US dates and are seemingly making up for lost time that, in reality, is a reminder of how seriously they take their creative process, which continues to be successful based on how great their comeback is shaping.
“The band was never a job, so we can’t get fired and don’t have to quit,” said Harrington. “We had the time to figure out how to bring the people we’ve become and the people we are as artists together authentically. There’s a chaotic, untethered ecstasy at the center of the band’s universe. Squaring that with the desire to create stability and the need to endure some grind isn’t easy.”
Words: David Sosa
“World Got Great” by Les Savy Fav is out on streaming services. For more on new music and tickets to their US tour, follow them on Instagram and their website.
Les Savy Fav US Tour:
May 16 – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
May 24 – Dublin, IRE – Whelans
May 25 – Leeds, UK – Brudenell Social Club
May 26 – South Derbyshire, UK – Bearded Theory
May 28 – Barcelona, ESP – Primavera Sound
June 28 – Washington, DC – Black Cat
June 29 – Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
June 30 – Somerville, MA – Arts at the Armory
July 12 – Portland, OR – Revolution Hall
July 13 – Seattle, WA – Day in Day Out
July 21 – Chicago, IL – Pitchfork Music Festival
Aug 3 – Katowice, PL – OFF Festival
