Savages (Breathe Carolina album)

Background

In early 2013, the duo announced a free mixtape would be released as soon as early summer. The mixtape, entitled Bangers, was released for free download on July 6, 2013 via Sol Republic. Although it was intended to contain material that was being written for the upcoming album, the departure of Kyle and addition of Tommy prompted a change in track list. Only one song from the Bangers mixtape, "Mistakes" made it onto the album. The group announced via Facebook and Twitter that a song recorded by the new lineup, called "Savages", would be released soon. The lead single of the album with the same name was streamed via Fearless's official Soundcloud account and made available for digital download on November 25, 2013. A lyric video for the song was released the following week in Fearless's official YouTube account. On February 18, 2014, the official second single "Sellouts" featuring Danny Worsnop from the band Asking Alexandria was released along with its music video. The third single "Bang It Out", which features Karmin was streamed and released on March 18, 2014. Another featuring track with Tyler Carter from the metalcore band Issues called "Chasing Hearts" was also streamed on April 7 and its music video was premiered by Billboard on April 15, 2014. A live music video from the song "Collide" was released on April 21, 2014.

Composition

David Schmitt told about the concept of the album:

“Savages isn’t a bad thing, it’s just about how you live your life and chasing your dreams, I want people to get out of this record that they feel like they are a part of the band when they are done listening to it… It’s very futuristic what we are doing for this record. It’s a lot of new sounds that we have never done that we haven’t heard at all.”

And about the sound: "It’s super electronic and [filled with] EDM"

Breathe Carolina has hinted that Savages will be a mixture of their musical roots and a new electronic sound, different from all three of their previous full-length albums.

Singles

"Bang It Out" was sent to US dance radio on 1 July 2014 by Fearless Records. "I Don't Know What I'm Doing" followed the next week.

Critical reception

The album generally received positive reviews. At Alternative Press, Dan Leroy rated the album three-and-a-half stars out of four, saying that "if you are looking for largely a guiltless guilty pleasure for the summer of 2014, you're in the right place." Elysa Gardner of USA Today rated the album two-and-a-half stars out of four, writing that "Breathe Carolina's sound is processed and pumped-up", however "some of the band's strongest grooves to date and canny atmospheric (and acoustic) touches make a number of tracks diverting.". Tim Sendra from AllMusic rated the album with three stars out of five and noted the genre shift, praising the tracks "Bang It Out", "Collide", "Shadows" and "Bury Me"; describing it as a "emo-pop album that delivers plenty of frothy fun" if you pick the songs that work.