San Francisco – Success is a double-edged sword, as are many of the aspects that seem to fuel it. When it comes to music, there are several struggles an artist or band must face to decide their next move: analog vs. digital, consistency vs. reinvention, accessibility vs. experimentation, genre vs. post-genre… these are just a few examples of what could possibly cross the mind of anyone trying to put out a successful record, and the decisions regarding the winners of these “battles” are often what define a certain release. In the world of Parquet Courts, all of these have been considered over the course of the band’s trajectory (except, perhaps, the first, as they have never really explored digitized/electronic strategies), and it would seem that with the band’s latest LP, Human Performance, Parquet Courts has bet on all the winning numbers.
Brooklyn four-piece Parquet Courts has been on the indie music scene since 2010, with the band making its debut with 2011’s American Specialities (initially released on cassette tape), but finding much more success with the 2012 release Light Up Gold, featuring the singles “Borrowed Time” and “Stoned and Starving.” After seeing modest radio and internet success, the album was reissued in early 2013, landing the band several prominent SXSW gigs that year, namely a coveted slot at Pitchfork’s Day Party. Since then, the prolific band has released three more albums. Two of those three were released in the same year (2014), the first being the ever-popular Sunbathing Animal (famous for containing tracks like “Black & White” and the title track “Sunbathing Animal”), while the second, Content Nausea, was released later that year. Content Nausea only included the two key vocalists and guitarists Andrew Savage and Austin Brown, was recorded over a period of only a couple of weeks, and was released under the name Parkay Quartz (perhaps in a gesture of loyalty to the two absent band members). The latter addressed similar themes as Sunbathing Animal but did so in a much simpler manner (though it’s sort of unbelievable that one could “simplify” the music of Parquet Courts; the band’s stuff already is as bare-bones as it gets). The quartet’s last release was the 2015 EP Monastic Living, which was either widely panned or ignored by critics for its supposed lack of ingenuity.
This month, we are given the fifth studio LP from Parquet Courts, an album called Human Performance, that goes above and beyond anything the band has ever accomplished. Parquet Courts is not the kind of band you can expect to “complicate” matters: the music is virtually reliant on guitars, bass, drums, and vocals, and that’s it (sometimes some keys sneak in there too). There’s no heavy reverb, no scalding production, no over-the-top poetics; it’s just four dudes making music together. It’s music that’s easy to understand, mostly because the guys tell things how they see them… and honestly, there just isn’t enough music like that being released these days.
Parquet Courts is known for a straightforward approach to garage rock/post punk/whatever you want to call it (I’m sure the band wouldn’t care either way). Parquet Courts has something to say – something that somebody (if not everybody) can relate to – and the band presents it in such a way that makes it accessible and often fun to listen to. One of the band’s first singles, “Stoned and Starving,” is just one dude talking about wandering around Queens while he’s baked off his ass. It’s underwritten with a few catchy hooks and some simple drumbeats, which make it into the song it is, but he’s just saying the same things I heard basically all my friends say while I was living in New York. (And now that I live in California? I can’t even keep count!) The guitar makes it fun, the beat gives it urgency, and all of a sudden we’re transported into the mind of a pothead running around Ridgewood trying to figure out what to do with himself. He’s not really singing, he’s talking in monotone, which is how a lot of people communicate with themselves and with those around them when they’re out on the streets trying to take everything in at once: sensory stimulations, emotional pangs, distractions, tummy rumblings, etc. These are all very real, and when Parquet Courts wrote a song about it – regardless of how “simple” it sounds – the band captured a fragment of the human psyche and preserved it in recorded musical form. This is the essence of Parquet Courts, and the foursome executes it brilliantly.
Fast-forward to 2016 and Human Performance. Now, this isn’t some commentary on bureaucratic workplace reviews, or a tongue-in-cheek ode to erectile dysfunction, or a review of the latest revival of Les Misérables (though I would love to hear PC’s take on any, if not all of those things). It’s about evaluation on a more personal level – of others, and of self. Human Performance only clocks in at about forty-five minutes, spanning fourteen tracks, more than half of which last around three minutes or less, but the band says more in that three-quarters of an hour than what some other artists say on a triple-LP. The vocals cut to the bone and leave little room for abstractions, giving the album a frankness that is almost unparalleled.
The instrumental styles vary throughout, allowing for a healthy amount of nuance, but the overall tone is cohesive and consistent. Most of the album is steeped in gritty rock and punk arrangements, which is apparent within the first few measures of album opener “Dust,” which starts out with a few rapid muted guitar strums before the unwavering bass thunders in, bringing with it a steady drumbeat and short bursts of fuzzy chords that punctuate the verses of monotone vocals that frequently repeat the refrain of “Dust is everywhere… / Sweep.” The song touches on the notion that the evils of the world are all around us, constantly falling and settling on our shoulders, and that the only sane way to deal with it is to keep ourselves clean. A similar theme pops up in the thoughtful “Keep It Even,” with our narrator advising us to navigate life with a cool head despite the many hiccups one encounters along the way. The song is softer than most of the others – save for sudden power chords in the middle – and Austin Brown’s peaceful vocals bring to mind the familiar melancholy of Stephen Malkmus (low-key ballad “Steady on My Mind” invokes a similar connection).
Some other influences/similarities pop up elsewhere on the LP too: hints of David Byrne come through on the album’s longest track “One Man, No City,” “Captive of the Sun” sounds like it could’ve been lifted off a recent Cake album, and the instrumentation of warped travelogue “Berlin Got Blurry” (also one of the album’s singles) has a little Western/Southern flavor to it, somewhere between Johnny Cash and Lynyrd Skynyrd. The most out-of-place song on the album – the slow, dissonant, strangely-metered track “I Was Just Here” – has roots in Berlin-era Bowie (think Lodger or Heroes), up until the last ten seconds or so when the oddities fall away and they swoop right into the post-punk sound the band is known for, and then the song’s title is sung a few times, over more rapid music.
Of course, a lot of Human Performance keeps to a modern punk sound, though there are deviations from time to time. The title track “Human Performance” and its successor “Outside” both have more of an indie rock feel than they do punk, but the attitude remains throughout both. The band’s true punk side shows its face during songs like “Paraphrased,” the bluntly self-evident “Pathos Prairie,” and the startling “Two Dead Cops,” a song that fearlessly addresses issues surrounding police brutality and institutionalized racism. The album ends with “It’s Gonna Happen,” a Leonard Cohen-esque lullaby exploring the concept of inevitability.
The men of Parquet Courts have no problem telling things as they see them, which is one reason why their fans love them so much. Another reason is that they’ve continued to push the boundaries when it comes to analog music and Western structure. The band also doesn’t shy away from experimenting with other styles of music, and Parquet Courts always finds a way of tying those styles into its own signature sound, creating fascinating blends that are a joy to listen to. With Human Performance, Parquet Courts has elected to be both consistent and inventive at the same time, which allows the audience to maintain a feeling of familiarity while still being impressed with the band’s progress. PC members Andrew Savage, Austin Brown, Sean Yeaton, and Max Savage’s examination of themselves and of the world that surrounds them is poignant, giving us a glimpse into their sense of humanity.
Human Performance is available for purchase on iTunes. Parquet Courts is on tour now and will soon be performing at Levitation Festival in Austin and Shaky Knees in Atlanta. A full list of tour dates can be found on the band’s website.
Corey Bell
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