Austin Town Hall

Friendly Savages – Her Locket On A Chain Rating:

Austin’s Friendly Savages have been blossoming for some time, crafting folk music that spins humor and heartfelt lyrics into memorable songs for their swelling fan base.  With the release of O, Joshua, the band has made a statement that they’re going to be around for some time to come, filling 16 songs with care and purpose.

O, Joshua is filled with little orchestral snippets, meant to bridge the gap between statements and songs.  But, the first grand statement that visiting the listener’s ear comes via “Counted Lost.”  It’s a tune circling the idea that humans from time to time tend to wander, drifting from purpose or established norms.  Musically, it’s built around a loose piano and strummed guitar, but the tune picks up more speed near the end with the vocals coming across with a little more of a rasp, and a hurried musical approach. Such things remove a bit of the polish from the record, which surely provides for exuberant moments during the live setting.

Personally, I think the places that Friendly Savages excel revolve around their ability to come in on a whisper, then spring forward into a louder spectrum.  Such a moment occurs in “Trouble with Home,” as the songs opens very quietly, allowing the tension to build slowly before the group unites to create a full-room sound.  The excited finish to the track displays a band willing to push the boundaries of the folk genre. It also helps that the tune leads into my favorite song from the O, Joshua, “The Hold of the Lord on My Sparrow.”  It’s one of the softest tune, but it’s also, pardon the cliche, one of the prettiest tracks you’ll find featured in this collection of songs.  It moves slowly, with the strings working in unison to warm your heart.

But, despite all the beautiful moments built into this listen, there are some areas where I think the group could move forward; I think they try to reach this realm on “Natchez Trace.”  The song, as per usual, begins gently, but during the chorus it takes a harder edge, employing drums to add a needed emphasis to the formula of Friendly Savages.  This isn’t to say that I don’t appreciate the pristine folk produced by the band, I just prefer a grittier element thrown in from time to time to allow for some musical diversity to break though.  Those moments come few and far between, but that’s just a personal gripe.

In the end, O, Joshua is a perfect statement by a band just starting to grow their brand. They’ve got the folk element down, and you’d be hard pressed to find other group’s crafting such an accessible version of the genre.  That being said, Friendly Savages have room to grow, meaning that this is just a first step to what I hope is a prosperous road for the Austin band.