Billed as a doff of the cap to club culture, ‘Sympathy For Life’ is actually Parquet Courts at their most puzzling.

A record to be experienced physically, it’s jam-heavy approach isn’t the dance rock crossover you might expect – ‘Walking At A Downtown Pace’ may be heavily rhythmic, but ‘Black Widow Spider’ feels like an ’84 post-hardcore sludger. ‘Sympathy For Life’ twists inside and out, the influence of Tony Allen leaning on those fluid hi-hats, but ‘Just Shadows’ has this strange post-punk meets Baroque feel.

A project as mystifying at it is engaging.

7/10

Words: Robin Murray

Dig This? Dig Deeper! Fela Kuti, Talking Heads, The Rapture

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