The culmination of a project eight years in the making,
Les Savy Fav's
Inches gathers nine singles -- 18 tracks in all -- that the band began recording in 1996 and then released through nine different labels (including Sub Pop, Monitor, and Suicide Squeeze).
Inches presents these singles in reverse chronological order, a clever and somewhat daring move; as the album plays, the band's sound unravels from the sleek, danceable art-punk of songs like "Meet Me in the Dollar Bin" to the rougher sounds of "Bringing Us Down" and "Reprobates Resume." But while "Hold Onto Your Genre" and "Hello Halo, Goodbye Glands" are more refined than what follows them on
Inches, that doesn't mean that the earliest songs on the collection are rudimentary. "Rodeo" and the epic "Our Coastal Hymn" display the taut rhythms, sharp guitars, and equally sharp lyrics that are the foundation of
Les Savy Fav's sound; in fact, the band has been riffing on this angular, danceable, post-punk-influenced sound for so long that it's a wonder it's taken so long for so many other bands to catch up with them. Meanwhile, "Reformat [Dramatic Reading]," a short play about a doomed submarine and the men on board, and the subsequent live performance of "Reformat" exemplify the artiness that is reflected in every aspect of the band. Interestingly, more than half of
Inches was recorded in 2003 and 2002, making the first half of the album more of a piece than its second half. Indeed, songs like "We'll Make a Lover Out of You," "Knowing How the World Works," and "The Sweat Descends" have a nearly perfect blend of angularity and accessibility, and help make
Inches just as consistent, if not more so, than the band's proper releases.
Inches is an ambitious concept, but the band's success with it is another example of
Les Savy Fav's mix of intellect and volatility.