Les Savy Fav Shares Highly Anticipated LP ‘OUI, LSF’

Les Savy Fav finally shares their highly anticipated LP OUI, LSF. Since the release of the single “Legendary Tippers” earlier this year (the band’s first release of new music in 14 years!), Les Savy Fav hasn’t slowed down. They’ve released several singles and videos since, collaborating with incredible artists and animators. To celebrate the release of OUI, LSF, Les Savy Fav will take over Late Night with Seth Meyers on May 15 and play the Music Hall of Williamsburg on May 16.

It’s impossible to talk about Les Savy Fav without acknowledging that it’s been over ten years since the guys released 2010’s Root for Ruin. But it’s not like they had a messy breakup or quit to become bankers. They just had a lot of living to do. “When we finished our last record, there was a sense that if we were going to do more, we wanted to do something more ambitious,” Harrington says. “I think it took us a while to even get in a space where that was possible.” Remember, these five men — Harrington, Seth Jabour, Syd Butler, Harrison Haynes, Andrew Reuland — have been friends and collaborators since 1995, when they attended Rhode Island School of Design. It takes a beat to shake old habits.

Over the years, the band has continued to perform, always on their terms. Still, after a stint at Primavera in 2022, they caught the proverbial songwriting bug once more, sharing demos, jamming in Harrington’s attic, and recording through the heap of DIY and esoteric gear Harrington collected over the last decade. At first, there was no intention of recording an album; they were playing music, not writing it. “The last record was a lot about holding on. OUI, LSF is the sound of release — no map, no preconceptions, no self-righteous certainty,” Butler says. “There’s nothing like hitting 50 to slap the cocksure vanity off your face.”

That’s not to say it was easy. The challenge of learning a new way to write and work together took a lot of letting go. Among the artwork that plasters the attic studio is a piece by Harrington that reads, “Can’t do it how you want. Don’t want to do it how you can,” spiralling into a bloodshot eye. “I put it there as a warning about how easily that fixation can paralyze you,” he says.

The resulting album is a glorious mix of tragedy and comedy — studded with nods to the band’s eclectic musical taste — delightfully weird and utterly them. Album opener “Guzzle Blood” crashes us into the record like a runaway cop car, setting the tone for the rest of the 14-song suite. “It opens with just a total disillusion — a loss of faith, frustration, anguish,” Harrington says of the song, which speaks of demons haunting your sleep and the battle for salvation.

Les Savy Fav ‘OUI, LSF’ album artwork

In addition to their slew of upcoming shows in Europe, Les Savy Fav has announced a handful of dates across the U.S. in the early summer. They are also slated to play Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago on July 21. Find more information and tickets HERE.

Les Savy Fav Live: 

May 16 – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
May 24 – Dublin, IRE – Whelans
May 25 – Leeds, UK – Brudenell Social Club
May 26 – South Derbyshire, UK – Bearded Theory
May 28 – Barcelona, ESP – Primavera Sound
June 28 – Washington, DC – Black Cat
June 29 – Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
June 30 – Somerville, MA – Arts at the Armory
July 12 – Portland, OR – Revolution Hall
July 13 – Seattle, WA – Day in Day Out
July 21 – Chicago, IL – Pitchfork Music Festival
Aug 3 – Katowice, PL – OFF Festival
Sept 20 – Los Angeles, CA – Zebulon
Sept 21 – Los Angeles, CA – Zebulon
Nov 15 – Atlanta, GA – The EARL
Nov 16 – Atlanta, GA – The EARL
Dec 14 – Austin, TX – Mohawk