Parquet Courts Harness Their Anger With Their “Raw” New Album, Out Next Year

A. Savage’s Thawing Dawn served as an excellent album to tide us over while we awaited the arrival of Parquet Court’s follow-up to 2016’s Human Performance. But now, the punk quartet have given us a reason to be excited about the new year. In an interview with DIY pointed out on Reddit, Savage revealed that their new album has a tentative release set for next May.

After spending 2017 in a fairly mellow state, they’re ready to release some pent-up aggression: “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,” Savage told DIY. “I didn’t write any love songs [for it]; it’s all rippers.”

The forthcoming effort is expected to express “outward turmoil and and a general state of unrest in the U.S.,” as opposed to the sedated “internal turmoil” that came with Human Performance. The tracklist has yet to be finalized, but it will likely include a song called “Total Football,” which is an ode to American hardcore that ruminates on the importance of uniting together to rally against the problem.

“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,” Savage explained. “I think that anger can be constructive. And there’s some unrest, for sure. But that can be positive.”

Considering Savage’s solo debut was a reflective country-Western exploration of love, angry “rippers” will be a nice change of pace—we’re in need of some catharsis after the year we’ve experienced. In the meantime, while we wait for the first single off the album, revisit our reviews of Thawing Dawn and Human Performance.