Culture
Discussing the Act of Being Human with Parquet Courts’ Andrew Savage
By: Emily Votaw
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Since 1976, Rough Trade has been responsible for backing some of the most influential, arty, and cerebral pop music acts of the past half century.
With names like The Smiths, James, Camper Van Beethoven, Pere Ubu, Miracle Legion, and Super Furry Animals all on their list of past or present artist rosters, it’s really no surprise that they signed New York City art punk act Parquet Courts after the release of the band’s gorgeous 2012 effort, Light Up Gold.
Formed in 2010, the group has always tread cerebral ground that ties up emotion, being, and deeply self-aware philosophical pondering; all whilst crafting intimately interesting music that lies somewhere between the intellectual territory of new wave and the sonic property of achingly sincere true punk rock.
Frontman Andrew Savage is also a visual artist — his work adorning many of the band’s album covers. His painting Seizure in the Hallway (which would make a nice album title in and of itself, honestly,) is the cover for the band’s most recent release, Human Performance.
The new full-length was recorded at the same time as the mostly instrumental Monastic Living EP, which was released shortly before the album. While Monastic Living paints a sonic portrait of a life both simple and fulfilling; Human Performance takes a deeper look at what it’s like to come to the realization that perhaps your day-to-day interactions are nothing but a by-route program that can (and probably will, at some point,) go terribly awry.
WOUB’s Emily Votaw spoke to Savage about the making of the most recent album, his visual art career, and a very talented man named Phil Collins (although he isn’t the fellow you’re probably thinking of).
Parquet Courts will perform at the Nelsonville Music Festival June 1 at 8 p.m. on the main stage. For more information, or to buy tickets, visit nelsonvillefest.org.