THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Lust for Life, Or: ‘How To Thread The Needle And Come Out The Other Side To Tell The Story is centred around duality. The intention is to bring together everything Britain’s Courting have created thus far into a succinct, direct, record.
Less than a year after their second record New Last Name, Courting return with a leaner, sharper sound, while solidifying their mischievous genre-blending reputation with eight meticulously crafted tracks that balance an infectious pop sensibility with intense, playful experimentation.
After exploring the grand theatrical style of New Last Name, this new album marks a shift toward a stripped-back, direct approach. “We wanted to keep everything incredibly direct — to hit everyone in the face and leave,” explains vocalist Sean Murphy-O’Neill. Yet despite its immediacy, the album retains the band’s characteristic wit, loaded with hidden references, in-jokes, and musical Easter eggs that reflect a true blend of fun and sophistication.
Each song on the album is twinned, with another, existing within the same type of world. Take for example the opening and closing bookends of the record, both featuring the same string melody but with the first serving as an orchestral introduction, and the second as a speeding dance punk track. Tracks 2 and 8 interpolate the same drum and string samples but shift them into completely different beasts — the first sitting somewhere between 2010 dubstep and a noise band covering a Small Faces track, and the latter being a multi-part, AutoTune crooned ballad with a striking saxophone solo.
The aim is clear as Courting balance the indie and pop songwriting of their previous records with their most experimental moments, each detail more refined than the last time.
Speaking about the first single, Murphy-O’Neill said, “Pause At You is a culmination of everything we’ve been working on over the last few years — an observation on night time paranoia mixed about with night out ecstasy. Light outing, floor filling, tie undressing, rock.”
