“Savoir Adore” is French for “to know love” - a lofty moniker, but an idea that’s always been at the heart of the band’s romantic, imaginative pop music. Led by Paul Hammer, the ever-evolving Brooklyn based project continues it’s journey through magical dream worlds and vivid musical landscapes. After 2 years of writing and recording, the band will return with their latest collection of songs, The Love That Remains, later this year. And with it, we find the band at it’s most mature, honest, and ambitious.
“When we were in Brazil in 2014, I learned the phrase Saudades, which describes a deep longing for someone or something as an almost physical entity. The idea of love as a supernatural, physical thing was a very interesting and inspiring idea to me. From there the album became about rediscovering love, in every way, finding it again in the world, with someone else, and with yourself. Whereas our last record was the sto...
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“Savoir Adore” is French for “to know love” - a lofty moniker, but an idea that’s always been at the heart of the band’s romantic, imaginative pop music. Led by Paul Hammer, the ever-evolving Brooklyn based project continues it’s journey through magical dream worlds and vivid musical landscapes. After 2 years of writing and recording, the band will return with their latest collection of songs, The Love That Remains, later this year. And with it, we find the band at it’s most mature, honest, and ambitious.
“When we were in Brazil in 2014, I learned the phrase Saudades, which describes a deep longing for someone or something as an almost physical entity. The idea of love as a supernatural, physical thing was a very interesting and inspiring idea to me. From there the album became about rediscovering love, in every way, finding it again in the world, with someone else, and with yourself. Whereas our last record was the story of two, I found it fitting and necessary to write this from a very personal, singular perspective.” And at the end of the day it’s about a lot more than that too -
Love, loss, and the often inescapable darkness of memories.
It also takes off from where Our Nature, the band’s critically acclaimed second album, left off. “Lovers Wake”, the albums first single and lead off track is the story of someone trying to escape a dream, and an addiction to suffering through a fantasy that doesn’t exist.
Savoir Adore is not a new band. But in many ways, this is a new beginning.
Paul’s principal collaborator and singer, Deidre Muro, left the band after starting work on their new LP in 2014. “It was very difficult,” Paul says, “it was the end of a creative partnership and a friendship, but in the end it also allowed us to both do exactly what we wanted to do with our new music”.
“Lovers Wake was the first track I finished for the record, and in many ways, like Dreamers, it set the tone for the record as a whole.” The song features vocals by Leah Hayes, who also cowrote the song with Paul. “There are a handful of collaborations on this record. I realized after starting a new batch of songs that I still wanted to collaborate as we always had, in a way, it’s at the core of the spirit of Savoir Adore, experimentation through collaboration. Rounding out the live band in 2016 will be Alex Foote, Ben Marshall, Andrew Pertes and our new singer Lauren Zettler, who’ll be featured on the record as a singer and co-writer of our next single, Giants.
“Giants” is a song about transcending your physical self, letting go of all your insecurities and finding strength in your true identity. We’re all “giants at the heart of it”. The record continues through similar romantic themes of self-discovery (Crowded Streets), adventure (Other worlds), and dark reflection (Savages).
Savoir Adore inadvertently became a fixture of Brooklyn’s indie scene as the result of a dare between Hammer and Muro. In 2007, as disheartened solo artists, they whimsically retreated out of the city to a rural studio with two rules: “48 hours. No acoustic guitars.” They returned with The Adventures of Mr. Pumpernickel and The Girl with Animals in Her Throat (Cantora), a concept-driven 12-song EP that tells the tragic story of a professor and the student that loved him. On 2009’s full length In The Wooded Forest(Cantora), they expounded on the EP’s mythical landscape, and on Our Nature (Nettwerk) they zoomed in on our inner landscapes through a chaotic love story between a girl and a monster.
In 2012, Savoir Adore found international success with their single, “Dreamers”, originally tapped by tastemakers Neon Gold for their 7” single series, and to this day racking up over 3 million plays on youtube and 5 million on Spotify. At the same time, the band caught the attention of Nettwerk Records, who signed the band to a label deal in early 2013. Nettwerk re-released Our Nature, including one new and previously unreleased song, “Beating Hearts”, in June 2013.
The band spent much of the surrounding years on the road, touring throughout Europe, South America and the United States. Both headlining and sharing the stage with such artists as Friendly Fires, Charli XCX, St. Lucia, and X Ambassadors. Along the way, Savoir Adore continued to catch the attention of tastemaker blogs, influential radio stations and lifestyle press including KCRW, WFUV, Billboard, MTV and The New York Times.
Savoir Adore's story has been building for a long time, but in many ways, their journey has just begun. The Love that Remains is the first part of a new chapter in the band, a chapter which finds the band more focused, experimental and ambitious than ever.
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