Review Summary: A strange, oblique yet ultimately brilliant collection of songs.
Parquet Courts have never been ones to rest on there laurels. Constantly evolving and refining their sound, from the interesting yet ultimately forgettable ‘American Specialities’, to the Velvet Underground meets ‘Slanted’ era Pavement vibes of their latest ‘Human Performance’, they’ve filled a niche for clever stoner indie rock. It is their 3rd album ‘Sunbathing Animal’ that is the outlier. A strange, oblique yet ultimately brilliant collection of songs.
Whereas previous albums had universal themes most people could relate to (who isn’t captive in Borrowed Time? Who hasn’t been Stoned And Starving?), the lyricism on ‘Sunbathing Animal’ is trickier to parse. Save perhaps ‘Dear Ramona’ and the touring lament ‘Always Back In Town’, the lyrics on this thing are caked in metaphors and obscure reference points. The blistering title track is sung from the point of view of a housecat, ‘What Colour Is Blood?’ asks ‘What Colour Is Blood? Still the same as it was?’ without getting closer to the answer or giving you any clue as to what they’re actually talking about. The almost complete absence of hooks or chorus’ compounds the issues of accessibility and may be a turn off for the casual listener.
However, where this album truly shines is its music. The tracks on this thing run the gamut from calm and relaxing ballads, to all out punk, to some slow paced stoner tunes and back again. The variety and technical proficiency of the songs means that even the most casual music fan will find something to enjoy here. The title track is one chord beaten in to submission along with the pummelling drums with the 2 incredible solos being the icing on the cake. ‘Instant Disassembly’, while maybe overstaying it’s welcome at over 7 minutes, is a beautiful love song with the gang vocals being a nice touch. While the interlude ‘Up All Night’ and the angular ‘Vienna II’ maybe a bit pointless in the grand scheme of the album, they fit nicely and there presence does not detract from anything.
All in all, ‘Sunbathing Animal’ is an album that requires some time to get into but if you are willing to put in that time, you will come away with a great album, more then worthy of it’s place in the Parquet Courts canon.