Album: Wide Awake!
Year: 2018
Well, one thing seems certain now: every couple of years, Parquet Courts will release an album that is more varied and multifaceted than the previous one, while not abandoning their roots as a drony punk band, and that album will be their best one yet.
Or at least that’s what it seems like right now, in the wake of 2018’s Danger Mouse produced Wide Awake! their most playful — and I think, best — album yet, as they add reggae and funk rhythms to their sonic palette. The upshot is an album where anything can happen at anytime, and actually does.
My favorite track is the cheekily-titled “Freebird II,” — which even gets a “live” introduction as such — which is both a reference to the long-going tradition of shouting “Freebird” at every band ever, and an obfuscation of a serious set of lyrics about Andrew Savage’s tumultuous childhood.
When I think about you I see a person who
Hasn’t existed for a long time
Before you started using, before I starting choosing
To do the same thing for the same reasons
Anchored by a massive organ hook that the guitars don’t even fuck with during the short instrumental break, “Freebird II” builds and builds and builds until it climaxes with a rousing all-hands-on-deck chorus:
I feel free like you promised I’d be
Free, I feel free like you promised I’d be
Free, I feel free like you promised I’d be
Free, I feel free like you promised I’d be
Give all of the dysfunction he describes in the rest of the song, it’s a genuinely affecting ending to the song. And even if you hadn’t been paying attention to the lyrics, it works on its own, as well.
And I can’t wait to hear what they do in 2020.
“Freebird II” Official Video
“Freebird II” performed live at The Current, 2018
The Certain Songs Database
A filterable, searchable & sortable somewhat up to date database with links to every “Certain Song” post I’ve ever written.
Certain Songs Spotify playlist
(It’s recommended that you listen to this on Spotify as their embed only has 200 songs.)
Support “Certain Songs” with a donation on Patreon
Go to my Patreon page
No comments:
Post a Comment