ALBUM REVIEW: Parquet Courts – Sympathy for Life
By Resonate | November 23, 2021
Words by Henry Gerrard
Parquet Courts (or Parkay Quarts as they are sometimes known) were at the forefront of a lot of alternative-rock fans’ mind’s when they released their last, and arguably their most successful album, Wide Awake! in 2018. Their latest album Sympathy for Life came somewhat out of the blue, with the single Walking at a Downtown Pace being released on streaming services about two months before the album dropped on the 22nd of October.
If I am completely honest, I find it difficult to critically listen to Parquet Courts songs purely because I have too much fun. I struggle to suss out the nuances of Andrew Savage’s clever use of imagery or the sometimes samba-infused, sometimes straight rock rhythms of Andrew’s Brother Max whilst I’m dancing around my room. If I were to say, then, that ‘sitting down and listening to Sympathy for Life is a hard task’ – it would be talking more about the act of sitting than listening.
To start, the band has produced yet another album with a lot of instantly likable songs. Walking at a Downtown Pace is up first, with a heavy drum groove that hints at the band’s previous single Wide Awake whilst also becoming its own piece. The band mixes in a lot of throwbacks to their older work whilst still introducing new elements, most notably the synth presence on tracks like Marathon of Anger on which they almost head into a Talking Heads-esque arrangement, paired with Savage’s repetitive lyrics.
The album as a whole is a joy to listen to and as a Parquet Courts fan, I have enjoyed putting it on repeat. However, it may be less intriguing to new Parquet Courts listeners as the more experimental approach makes the album less accessible, however, I see it as a fitting venture from their last work.
7/10
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