Experimental rock ensemble Savant were founded by Seattle-based ambient musician K. Leimer in the early '80s. Other contributors included Marc Barreca (another ambient musician who released material on Leimer's Palace of Lights label), OP Magazine's John Foster, members of power pop group the New Flamingos, Earthstar guitarist Dennis Rea, and several others. Rather than improvising or composing pieces of music, Savant essentially existed as a studio creation of Leimer, who would record brief passages by a musician, subsequently manipulating and incorporating them into his sonic experiments. Unlike Leimer's ambient and new age solo material, Savant were more rhythmic, with trippy drumbeats and looped basslines, as well as the occasional exotic instrument, found object, or radio snippet. The project encapsulated the spirit of '80s underground cassette culture, but leaned closer to atmospheric music and abstract funk rather than noise or industrial. The group's first release was the 1981 12" single "Stationary Dance," which was also the song Savant played during their only live performance. Full-length The Neo-Realist (At Risk) followed in 1983, and the group contributed to a few compilations, such as 1985 cassette This Is Religion. Leimer shut down Palace of Lights during the mid-'80s and stopped issuing recordings. The label relaunched near the beginning of the 21st century, and reissued Savant's album and several Leimer solo albums on CD, in addition to new recordings. In 2014, RVNG Intl. released A Period of Review, a retrospective of Leimer's solo recordings. The following year, the label released Artificial Dance, a Savant anthology containing all of the tracks from the group's 12" and LP, two songs from compilations, and three previously unreleased newer recordings. ~ Paul Simpson