Album Review: Parquet Courts - Sunbathing Animal

The imagery invoked by the title, Sunbathing Animal, perfectly captures the calm insouciance of the Brooklyn-based quartet's third album, laidback and relaxed but naturally capable of springing into action at the slightest provocation. Indeed this ability to move from languidly stretching out to terse bursts of noise at will provides a sonic dichotomy integral to their substantial charm.

Lysergic opener, Bodies ends on a teasing vibe akin to Pavement at their most playful, before the urgent Black And White ups the ante with its incessant beat, handclaps and chaotic breakdowns while the languid, bendy Dear Ramona introduces its strange but captivating call-and-response arrangement. Elsewhere the mild druggy hypnotism of She's Rolling segues into the staccato machine gun delivery of the title track, before things slow to a canter for the meandering resignation of Up All Night. Their Velvets-esque use of repetition is also notable – the nagging chords and chugging beats of tracks like Vienna II and the frenetic Duckin' And Dodgin' gradually worming their way into your brain – yet despite their casual vibe these econo-jams are deceptively intricate, like Wire at their most precise.

Lyrically, where 2012 long-player Light Up Gold found the band coming to terms with their adopted hometown New York City, Sunbathing Animal was written during that album's relentless touring cycle and deals with issues like confinement and the tyranny of distance with equally compelling results – an already alluring aesthetic morphing in new and fascinating directions.