Understanding their first album “Chapters” requires to consider the full scope of Saavan, this duo who, after two EP's (Slow, Observatory) and a few electro-pop hit songs (« Flown »), took the time to polish a sound with beneficial properties.
And that is precisely the beauty of Saavan's music : a constant balance between lightness and melancholia, those warm yet disillusioned layers of sound, their way of orchestrating, with ease, a fusion between two different - almost opposite – worlds. There are reminiscences of Floating Points, Four Tet or Bonobo in their way of perceiving each melody as a call to travel, and of Tame Impala when it comes to their approach of those pop chorus. Charles Bukowski or Jack Kerouac could also be mentionned, because of those lyrics which, yet filled with hope, carry their load of disenchantement. Notably on the last track of the album, « Our Poem », Lucas borrowed his writing style to the beat generation. « It's mostly the way we make the syllabus sound, the way those never ending sentences are shaped, without commas or periods. Simply because we share with them that love for what's dirty, raw, which cuts with the softness of our melodies. »
Listening to Chapters, it appears that the idea of pursuing the evolution of that lush and fragile signature sound, which invites us to look at our surrounding differently, was also in the band's mind. Hence the first song of the album, which reminds us that Saavan isn't limited to pretty melodies with a heavy emotional potential. It is a true and extremely visual artistic universe, here chopped in several parts. After the three first tracks of the album, strenghtened by the obvious efficiency of « Hometown », the duo renews its sound with a disarming ease. Much like « Hollow », in which winds a contained rage, and an urge to voice their views on the world's state. Before returning, towards the end of the album, to more intimate confessions, cutting nicely through those catchy, elegant, never flashy, orchestrations of harmonies, luring the listener into a state of bliss.
