Les Savy Fav

Playing sharp but engaging post-hardcore with complex melodic lines, edgy guitar leads, and plenty of eccentric wit (their name, for instance, sounds French, but doesn't mean anything), Les Savy Fav confirm it's possible to be arty and sublimely entertaining at the same time. Under the leadership of frontman Tim Harrington, the group developed a reputation for smart, angular songcraft and abundant energy on 1999's The Cat and the Cobra and presented a more mature but still wiry style on 2007's Let's Stay Friends and 2010's Root for Ruin. Other projects (including regular appearances on late night TV) took priority for over a decade, but 2024's Oui, LSF was an accomplished step back into the spotlight.

Les Savy Fav were formed in 1995 by five friends attending the Rhode Island School of Design. Vocalist Tim Harrington, guitarists Seth Thom Jabour and Gibb Slife, bassist Syd Butler, and drummer Patrick Mahoney began making music together during downtime from their studies, and they spent two years playing clubs along the East Coast before their reputation spread to Seattle, where Sub Pop Records invited the band to record a single. "Rodeo" b/w "Blackouts on Thursday" was released in November of 1997, and by the end of the year, the band completed a full-length album, 3/5, released by the independent Self-Starter Foundation label. Les Savy Fav's live shows drew growing audiences, thanks to their striking music and Harrington's over-the-top stage antics, which sometimes included remarkable costumes and friendly invasion of the audience's space.

For their second full-length effort, 1999's The Cat and the Cobra, the group opted to release their album through Frenchkiss Records, an independent label formed by bassist Butler. The second album also featured a new drummer, Harrison Haynes, who replaced Mahoney. In 2000, Les Savy Fav shrunk from a quintet to a quartet with the departure of guitarist Slife, and Go Forth, released in October 2001, was their first full-length effort as a four-piece, following the well-received EP Emor: Rome Upside Down. In 2004, Les Savy Fav collected a number of their small-label singles on a compilation called Inches, and they maintained an increasingly busy schedule as a live act, busy enough that it was becoming difficult for Harrington, who was raising a family with his wife, and Butler, whose Frenchkiss label was enjoying success with the Hold Steady, Passion Pit, Local Natives, and many more.

In 2005, Les Savy Fav announced they were going on an indefinite hiatus, but their sabbatical didn't last very long. By late 2006, the band reconvened to begin recording a new album, and in May 2007, they returned to the stage at the British All Tomorrow's Parties festival. Let's Stay Friends was released by Frenchkiss in September 2007 and received enthusiastic reviews; it also found the band welcoming a new guitarist, Andrew Reuland, and working with a number of guest musicians, including Toko Yasuda of Enon and Blonde Redhead, Eleanor Friedberger of the Fiery Furnaces, and comedian and percussionist Fred Armisen. Les Savy Fav documented their strength as a live act with the digital-only concert LP After the Balls Drop (recorded at a New Year's Eve show that rang in 2008), and in mid-2010, they issued their fifth studio album, Root for Ruin.

After the touring cycle in support of Root for Ruin was completed, Les Savy Fav went on an unofficial hiatus. They curated the 2011 All Tomorrow's Parties' Nightmare Before Christmas festival in collaboration with Battles and Caribou, and appeared at the 20th annual Primavera Sound Festival in Spain, but otherwise little was heard from them, and Seth Thom Jabour and Syd Butler landed a steady gig with the 8G Band, the house band formed by Fred Armisen for the popular chat show Late Night with Seth Myers. (The 8G Band also features Eli Janney, formerly of Girls Against Boys.) In February 2024, Les Savy Fav broke their silence with the release of a single, "Legendary Tipper." It proved to be a preview of a new LP when the group revealed their sixth album, Oui, LSF, would be issued by Frenchkiss in May 2024. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi