Following a string of records with rambunctious names like Tally All The Things That You Broke and Sunbathing Animal, Brooklyn-based punk band Parquet Courts established a strong reputation as a group full of two-chord punk tracks and articulate stoner-poet lyricisms. They’re also one of the most exhilarating live performances you can witness; check out our review of the band’s Portland show back in February here.
In this installment of Double Takes, Emerald writers Emerson Malone and Craig Wright review Parquet Courts’ newest album Human Performance, which finds the band leaving behind the juvenile naivety of its past and advancing toward a cleaner, more adult release.
Watch the video for “Berlin Got Blurry” by Parquet Courts below.
Craig’s take (follow Craig on Twitter @wgwcraig)
Countless reviews have called Parquet Courts a “slacker band.” Other than the stoner-infused motifs of songs like “Stoned and Starving,” that descriptor has never made much sense. Since 2013, there have been six Parquet Courts records: four full-length albums and two EPs.
Many of the songs on Human Performance are slower than typical early Parquet Courts songs, but the guitar work remains as interesting as ever. Austin Brown and Andrew Savage continue to make seemingly incompatible solos fuse into a single brilliant interweaved effort. The duo’s shared vocal duties similarly mesh better than ever.
Savage delivers his most political song to date as he questions police tactics in “Two Dead Cops.” Sean Yeaton provides a driving bassline before Savage’s anxious vocals clash with the guitar, kicking off a story of institutional power abuse: “Somebody follows you home in the dark / Can’t look back, all the gates are down / He could do anything, there’s no one around, plant a bag in my pants / Protect you is what they say / But point and shoot is what they do.”
The evolution of lyrical themes is striking, but the band’s continued instrumental development is the real showstopper. “Dust” features a slow groove instrumental call-and-response section. During the chorus, the guitar plays the main riff, answered by a synthesizer, bass, then finally vocals. It’s an eerie album opener and an instant alert that this was not a rushed production.
Jeff Tweedy of Wilco makes a cameo on “Dust,” and later supplies the guitar solo for “Keep It Even,” which gives both tracks a welcome Wilco vibe and a much-deserved Tweedy stamp of approval.
Human Performance finds Parquet Courts with yet another album worthy of heavy rotation. The sonic strives this band makes are always encouraging, and the slower, often-disjointed sounds mixed with some of the group’s best lyrics to date are hopefully a sign of further developments. Just don’t call them slackers. By the time you do, there will probably be news of another Parquet Courts album coming.
Listen to “Dust” by Parquet Courts below.
Emerson’s take (follow Emerson on Twitter @allmalone)
If nothing else, you have to appreciate Parquet Courts for its exceptional handle on track sequencing, and killer album openers. Such is the case on Human Performance with the fantastic “Dust.” Through the droning guitar and rascally keyboard that jumps in, singer-songwriter Andrew Savage offers the taunting mantra: “Dust is everywhere / Sweep!” as a nightmarish oh-my-god-my-house-is-trying-to-kill-me attack for any germaphobe. But on a more symbolic level, the song posits that the group’s decided to clean up its act with the new album. The array of instruments at the band’s disposal is another notable growth on Human – what previously was a guitar-bass-drums-scream outfit now finds room for flute, keyboards, marimba and bongos.
One of the most admirable things about Parquet Courts is how the band packages vulnerability into some savage tracks. On the album’s title track, Savage narrates the sight of an apartment after a break-up (“Ashtray is crowded, bottle is empty”) counterpointed with restrained sentiments on his depression (“It never leaves me, just visits less often / It isn’t gone and I won’t feel its grip soften, without a coffin”).
Savage’s wittiness runs on all cylinders on “One Man, No City,” the album’s six-and-a-half-minute centerpiece. With a rhythmic guitar hook punctuated with some bongos, Savage makes a clever shout-out to the Cartesian adage (“‘Cogito Ergo Sum’ people say, but think again”) before it takes a detour into a wandering, instrumental coda that wouldn’t be out of place on a Velvet Underground record.
There’s no conceptual narrative on Performance to swallow, nor a hyper-literate social commentary like on past records, but dammit, this is Parquet Courts having fun on a new level of musicianship, highly evolved and entirely human. This is the most enjoyable record of 2016, thus far.