Demagogue Days by Suburban Savages

𝗦𝗨𝗕𝗨𝗥𝗕𝗔𝗡 𝗦𝗔𝗩𝗔𝗚𝗘𝗦 𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗦 "𝗗𝗘𝗠𝗔𝗚𝗢𝗚𝗨𝗘 𝗗𝗔𝗬𝗦"
The four years since the release of “Kore Wa!”, has been a time of change, and a time of words. Lots of words. Even though we live in an age of information, it seems that we increasingly live in an age of babble, misinformation, and elephant talk. People talking without having anything to say, lacking the ability to keep quiet. “Demagogue Days” is an album about communication.  While not being a concept album, the lyrics thematically deal with communication and the lack of it on many levels.

Suburban Savages had just started planning the final stages of the recording when the pandemic struck. It contributed to a sense of remoteness, not being able to meet regularly in the rehearsal room, only online. Mirroring the theme of the album, communication and the lack of it, the members were just a few kilometres apart, but still had to communicate as they were on opposite sides of the world. So close, yet so far away ...

When Suburban Savages now releases “Demagogue Days” it is an album that reflects a change in both the world and within the group. Members have come and gone, and the quartet that wrote and recorded “Demagogue Days” wanted to push boundaries and create a different beast from 2017’s “Kore Wa!”. Both lyrically and musically they wanted to go somewhere else.

While “Kore Wa!” mainly was Trond’s ideas and arrangements, “Demagogue Days” is the result of a more democratic process, with all the members being involved in writing and arranging. Consisting of eight songs, ranging from barely 90 seconds to eight minutes in length, “Demagogue Days” showcases Suburban Savages’ brand of creative whims and playful cheerfulness. The band still masters the art of creating catchy and hummable melody lines, with influences spanning from prog, art-pop and post-punk. While the topics deal with rather serious and pressing issues, musically the band still manages to keep their quirky sense of humour.

This promises an exciting blend of compositions encompassing everything Suburban Savages has done up to now, but with more expanded structures and even more variety in styles. The music is more complex and experimental, but also dares when needed to be simple and direct. Compared to “Kore Wa!” there are also more symphonic elements in the music, still without sounding like a blast from the past.

𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗦𝗨𝗕𝗨𝗥𝗕𝗔𝗡 𝗦𝗔𝗩𝗔𝗚𝗘𝗦
Formed in Oslo in 2007 as a solo project by Trond Gjellum to record songs that did not fit into his other band Panzerpappa. Thomas Meidell (The Samuel Jackson Five, Mt. Mélodie) quickly became involved as a composer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist, and bass player Anders K. Krabberød from Panzerpappa joined in on bass guitar, becoming the core of Suburban Savages. A few other members came and left, and in 2017, Mari Lesteberg (Fraction Distraction) joined on keyboards and vocals.

A sort of mishmash between Brian Eno’s experimental pop music, Gentle Giant's counterpoint exercises, Happy the Man and Kit Watkins' joyful progressive rock, Lars Hollmer's sentimental melodies, Steve Reich's minimalism and post rock with a twist

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