Parquet Courts have 'Sympathy For Life' in October

Parquet Courts' next album, Sympathy For Life, will be out October 22 on Rough Trade Records. The first single/video is “Walking at a Downtown Pace.”

On Sympathy For Life, the Brooklyn band's songs were built largely from improvised jams, inspired by New York clubs, Primal Scream and Pink Floyd and produced in league with Rodaidh McDonald (The xx, Hot Chip, David Byrne) and John Parish (PJ Harvey, Aldous Harding, Dry Cleaning).

Unlike its predecessor, 2018’s Wide Awake!, the focus fell on grooves rather than rhythm. “Wide Awake! was a record you could put on at a party,” says co-frontman Austin Brown in a press release. 

“'Sympathy For Life' is influenced by the party itself.” Historically, some amazing rock records have been made from mingling in dance music culture – from Talking Heads to Screamadelica. Our goal was to bring that into our own music. Each of us, in our personal lives, has been going to more dance parties. Or rather, we were pre-pandemic, which is when this record was made.”

“Most of the songs were created by taking long improvisations and moulding them through our own editing,” explains Brown. “The biggest asset we have as artists is the band. After 10 years together, our greatest instrument is each other. The purest expression of Parquet Courts is when we are improvising.”

In the video for “Walking At A Downtown Pace,” directed by acclaimed New York City street photographer Daniel Arnold, “we see New York City from the vantage point of someone busily hurrying through it,” explains co-frontman A Savage. “That’s what life can be like here; a world of constant motion surrounds you while you’re just walking toward where you need to be. There’s a lot of beauty that can be missed, and it wasn’t until the streets were virtually empty that I did miss it. The song was written before all quarantine, but eerily enough the lyrics echo that longing. Now the city is back and, so it seems, are Parquet Courts."

WATCH PARQUET COURTS’ VIDEO FOR “WALKING AT A DOWNTOWN PACE”

PREORDER SYMPATHY FOR LIFE

Today, Parquet Courts also announce The Power of Eleven - eleven global happenings that will precede the release of the album (go to parquet-courts.com for details), each tied to a unique piece of merch only available at each event. Last week, the first of these events took place in downtown Manhattan, as the Lesbian & Gay Big Apple Corp (LGBAC) Marching Band marched through the streets performing “Walking at a Downtown Pace” while flying a custom-made Parquet Courts flag. Fans who attended managed to grip a pair of custom Parquet Courts drumsticks.

Finally, the band has announced Feel Free - Sympathy For Life, Visualised, which will be a livestream of 11 videos, encompassing the entire record, which will air two days before the album’s release on October 20. The band enlisted the effort of 11 amazing visual artists from around the world to create a completely unique experience for fans who buy tickets to Feel Free - Sympathy For Life, Visualised. Purchase tickets here.

Track listing:

1. Walking At A Downtown Pace
2. Black Widow Spider
3. Marathon of Anger
4. Just Shadows
5. Plant Life
6. Application Apparatus
7. Homo Sapien
8. Sympathy For Life
9. Zoom Out
10. Trullo
11. Pulcinella

Tour dates:

Sat. Sept. 18 - Augustine, FL @ Sing Out Loud Festival
Wed. Sept. 22 - Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre *
Fri. Sept. 24 - Marfa, TX @ Trans-Pecos Festival
Sun. Sept. 26 - Accord, NY @ Woodsist Festival
Sat. Oct. 2 - Tampa, FL @ Gasparilla Music Festival
Fri. Oct. 29 - Richmond, VA @ The National
Sat. Oct. 30 - Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar
Sun. Oct. 31 - Lancaster, PA @ Tellus360
Wed. Nov. 03 - Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
Thu. Nov. 04 - Portland, ME @ State Theatre
Fri. Nov. 05 - Holyoke, MA @ Gateway City Arts
Sat. Nov. 06 - Asbury Park, NJ @ The Stone Pony
Wed. Nov. 17 - Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
Fri. Nov. 19 - Austin, TX @ Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheatre
Tue. Mar. 15, 2022 - Millvale, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre
Wed. Mar. 16, 2022 - Cleveland, OH @ Agora Theatre
*= supporting Portugal. The Man