Brooklyn-based indie-basement group Parquet Courts develops a fresh and winning take on slacker punk-rock over the course of their debut album, Light Up Gold. With lazy thrills reigning in their voices and aggressive, catchy grooves beaming out of their guitars and basses, they craft carefully indolent atmospheres, dribbled with distortion and layered with lyrical experiments. What the album and all that sluggish shouting reflects on I can’t exactly say, but after listening I feel compelled to agree with it. There is definitely more than first meets the ear here—a narrative fringed by angst, despairs, dreams, and benumbed purposes.
The first thing to notice here are the vocals. Frequently sung off-key, with an slothful arrhythmic flow and tendency to veer towards talk, they assure you right away that this is the sort of music you will be able to annoy your parents with—but it’s hardly just that. The first track, “Master of My Craft” kicks up a fun groove and exhibits lyrical prowess. Lines like “didn’t come here to dream/teach the world things,” and “Socrates died in the fucking gutter” speak to ambitious thematics. Lyrics on later songs veer between poetic, bizarre, tongue-twisting, and humorous, and they shine as one of the highlights of the album.
As far as tracks go, if you enjoy one you will probably enjoy them all, as the style never fades and grooves remain catchy without feeling overdone. “Borrowed Time” has a rattling, catchy refrain that could serve as the album’s anthem. “Yonder is Closer to the Heart” is likely the best of the bunch. A pulsating bass sets off an urgent guitar and vocals that hint at a direness; the song carries a sense of revolution without losing any of that heedless energetic punch. “N Dakota” is less aggressive than the rest, with gentle guitar strums and two lazy shiftless voices reciting poetic verses. “Stoned and Starving” is one for the masses, with its heavy groove, amusing refrain and happily mellow reflection on being listlessly high in New York. Over this course a sense of place, story, and lethargic entrapment will emerge, but the punk remains, making this album something worth relistening to.
