Former Mercury Prize winners Savages back with ‘naive’ second album

Savages are an intense band. And lead singer Jehnny Beth uses that descriptor herself multiple times over a series of interviews.

She has a point. The sound: guitar-based tension at its most concentrated. Consider it the aural equivalent of a clenched fist. This, after all, is the image that graces the cover of the band’s second album, Adore Life.

The look: all black. The London-based band doesn’t deviate from this uniform. Even in summer, leather jackets and dark blazers are not considered optional.

Pose a query to the band, and Savages will answer, but Beth will let you know when it’s time to move on. “Next question,” she’ll say. And should an interview drift into overly familiar territory, such as the members’ pre-Savages life, bassist Ayse Hassan will wave it off. “It has been documented online,” she’ll say.

In music and in person, the members of Savages don’t say more than is necessary. Their debut album, 2013’s Silence Yourself, was a tightly wound affair that dealt with different shades of confrontation and helped catapult Savages towards the top of festival bills such as Coachella, where the band are scheduled to perform in April. Winner of Britain’s prestigious Mercury Prize, Silence Yourself captured characters on the brink – of passion, of life and simply the ability to feel.

The follow-up is a sunnier affair, at least from a lyrical standpoint. And Beth says that some of the album is “naive”.