There's a thin line between love and hate, the old song says, and Savages want to explore every nook and cranny.
The female Anglo-French quartet offered a frantic and often compelling study in contradictions Monday night at Trees in Deep Ellum. On their second and latest album, Adore Life, Savages set out to explore the inner workings of the heart — a bold move for a band that made its name by channeling furious anger into abrasively catchy post-punk songs.
But if you were expecting a set full of tender ballads, you came to the wrong show.
At times, Savages made love sound like the plague wrapped in distortion-drenched guitars.
The new song "T.I.W.Y.G." — "this is what you get" — sprinted at 200 mph to the conclusion that love is "suffering straight from the gods." In "When in Love," French-born lead singer Jehnny Beth sang to a bed-mate "I hate your taste in music" before pondering whether she's in love or just bored and sexually frustrated.
Every now and then, the cynicism lifted. In "Adore," Beth confessed that despite all her angst, she has an unquenchable lust for life.
"Angry ... but positive," she told fans at one point. "We have a lot of songs like that."
Her performance was like that, too. Pumping her fists and spazzing out for an hour-and-a-half straight, Beth was a sweat-drenched dynamo as she quavered, trilled and bleated like Patti Smith playing the role of Edith Piaf.
Her bandmates — Gemma Thompson (guitar), Ayse Hassan (bass), Fay Milton (drums) — were slightly less reserved, but no less explosive. Thompson drove the music with colorful squalls of guitar noise.
At first glance, Savages seemed grim as a voice from the grave. Dressed all in black like her fellow musicians, Beth stared menacingly at the crowd and raised a curled middle finger to beckon fans closer.
Eventually, the ice melted. "Not bad, not bad," Beth said, beaming at several dance-happy fans and instructing them to come to the front. Later, she declared her love for Dallas and promised to return.
By the end of the show, she'd stopped teasing fans at the edge of the stage and jumped backwards into the audience, which lifted her up by the boots and knees until she stood singing above crowd in a perfect replica of the famous Iggy Pop photo from 1970.
"Will you catch me if I fall?" she said, as if there was any doubt. By this point, Savages had worked fans into such a frenzy they'd have done anything she'd asked.
Thor Christensen is a Dallas writer and critic.
