The Savage Poor “The Grown Ups”

The Savage Poor first came to our attention as a result of some mentions from Christine Smith. Now given Christine has recently played alongside two of our all time favourites artists/bands (Jesse Malin and Marah) then clearly any endorsement from her is worth checking out. A point further confirmed by the bands own description of their sound as “the Savage Poor’s music shares the subversive idealism and social change of the 1960’s; the sinister, sweat-soaked sounds of the late-70’s New York City club scene; and the melodic, multi-guitar menagerie of the 80’s indie invasion”.

After the somewhat abrasive album intro, we go in to the far smoother “Alone And Cry”. It may just be us, but on this and “How The West Was Won”, the guitar melody and to some extent the vocals actually remind us of Roy Orbison”.

The beat then picks up a little on “Together In The Jungle” which is a bit of a folk rocker (if that exists!). Together with “Night Of A Thousand Tuesdays” it’s a sound of a ‘roots’ band but also with a feel for pop/rock…..imagine if Mumford and Sons were actually a great band with good songs!

Things take a very different turn on “Hand Coming Down”. A menacing and darker tune that has an almost Doors feel to it. It contrasts completely with the far lighter “Slouching Towards Heaven”. That song then gently eases us into “I Guess I Missed The Boat”. If there is one song on this album that could bring the band commercial success it’s that one. Although perhaps the same could also be true of the very Springsteen esque “The Violent Bear It Away”.

It may sound weird, but this is just a really ‘nice’ album. That sounds kind of critical but we definitely mean it in a positive way. It’s like a massage for your ears and your head. It leaves you with a warm feeling like a late summers afternoon or being in front of a real fire on a cold winters day… so a pretty sweet place to be!