British band Drenge may have been shaking up the modern punk scene within the UK, but Texan quartet Parquet Courts have also been making waves across from America this year. With their clever combination of indie-rock and punk elements, the band have released a critically acclaimed debut Light up Gold, and now a five track EP just to keep us hanging on. With so much activity within the space of twelve months, the phrase short and sweet really does the trick with this one.
The whole affair feels like a rather intense build-up of sound and release of snappy ideas. Opener ‘You’ve got me wonderin’ now’ induces memories of Franz Ferdinand’s You Could have it so much Better, as well as subtle hints of The Vaccines. This is then ramped up with ‘Descend (That way)’, via vocalist Andrew Savage yelling out lyrics with gusto and the guitar notes rapidly shifting between tones. Eventually, the pace reaches a fever pitch with ‘The More it Works’ going berserk with thumping percussion and unrelenting cries of “The more you use it/The more it works!”. This is the prime reason as to why this EP sounds so holistic, because everything fuses together into levels of a single musical identity.
Surprisingly, everything spearheads into a finale of hip-hop and rap like influences. Yet, despite this initial change in direction, it still feels as if it belongs together with the otherwise previous punk and indie elements of the EP. This natural transition into the Climatic ‘Fall On yr Face’ and eventual cool-down of ‘He Seeing Paths’ works with the pacing almost perfectly, with the outro length maybe seeming a tad excessive.
If you want a prime example of how to condense a band’s signature sound into a five track EP, look no further than Parquet Court’s Tally all the Things you Broke. It’s another delicious and exciting taster from a band that is one to watch.
8/10
Tally all the Things you Broke is out now on What’s your Rupture?
