This Is Our Jam: Savages, “She Will”

Every year at SXSW, one or two bands emerge from the milieu, having steamrolled the competition. This year that band was unquestionably Savages, whose post-punk fury dominated any P.A. and ear canal it could reach.

The London band is made up of four women hell-bent on bringing punk immediacy back to rock 'n' roll, and nowhere is that more evident than on "She Will," the band's newest single from the upcoming Silence Yourself LP. The track moves from balled-up fury to unsprung assault with little effort, and while every member keeps things as tightly wound as possible, it's the interplay between the fidgety, mercurial guitar work of Gemma Thompson and the cavernous vocals of Jehnny Beth that's at the core of Savages' sound. Full of bitting, fragmented verbal lashings and sexually ambiguous role reversals, the track plays like a combination of Siouxsie and the Banshees' gothic drama and Sleater Kinney's razor-sharp politicking. Just take a listen and you'll see what we mean.

Silence Yourself is out May 7. We're very excited to get our hands on it.

Savages — Silence Yourself "She Will"