New York postpunk favorites Parquet Courts have had a busy 2017. The band continued to tour relentlessly behind their 2016 album Human Performance, all while releasing music with Daniele Luppi and Karen O and sharing a solo album from frontman Andrew Savage. Earlier this month, the band sat down with DIY Magazine to discuss their new 2018 album in print.
Allegedly scheduled for release this May, the followup to 2016’s Human Performance is currently being mixed at a studio in rural Texas with a yet-unnamed producer. In an excerpt from the interview now published on DIY‘s website, Savage calls the album “raw” and says filled with the band’s love of American hardcore.
“I wanted to get back to writing raw songs. Things you can dance to and things I could harness my anger into, which is plentiful being in America right now. I didn’t write any love songs; it’s all rippers…”
“Whatever internal turmoil and unrest was happening [on Human Performance], that’s been mooted and replaced by an outward turmoil and a general state of unrest at living in the US. I think that honesty of one’s own time is what people are connecting to in art. It has to speak to the current condition or else it’ll have a very short shelf life…”
“If there’s one thing the record’s against, it’s nihilism. There’s way too much of [that] in my country and in society at large in the moment. I think that anger can be constructive. And there’s some unrest, for sure. But that can be positive. It’s not gonna be like a Lars Von Trier movie or anything.”
The vocalist also adds that the album will probably include a new track called “Total Football,” which was directly inspired by the band’s youth in a way that celebrates “collectivity versus individualism and how, now more than ever, it’s important to celebrate what happens when we come together.”
Read an excerpt of the interview here and check out the full version in this month’s print issue of DIY.
