Texas-native Andrew Savage, who has recorded ten albums (or so) with his Brooklyn-based band Parquet Courts and solo as A. Savage, is one of the indie rock greats of the post-rock ‘n’ roll era we’ve been living in since around 2010.
Parquet Courts first penetrated my consciousness in 2013 with the reissue of their 2012 album Light Up Gold. I fell in love with it instantly, because it was Pavement cosplay in the best way imaginable. Just as Stephen Malkmus of Pavement demonstrated his enchantment with Mark E. Smith of the Fall on Pavement songs like “Two State” from their 1992 masterpiece Slanted & Enchanted, so too did Savage demonstrate his with Malkmus/Pavement on songs like “Careers in Combat,” “Stoned and Dethroned,” “N Dakota,” and the title track, among others.
Their second album, Sunbathing Animal (2014), was more of the same, with slightly better sound, slightly less consistency, and longer songs. If I didn’t love Pavement so much, I might have dismissed Parquet Courts at this point as a band too in love with their heroes.
Parquet Courts really has two primary songwriters, Savage and Austin Brown (Savage is the singer). But on their third album, 2016’s Human Performance, all four band members contributed, and they started to stake out their own sound on songs like the outstanding title track, “Berlin Got Blurry,” and “Pathos Prairie,” though all are still Pavement adjacent, if I’m being honest.
After collaborating with Italy’s Daniele Luppi and Karen O of the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs on an album called Milano in 2017 (check out album highlights “Soul and Cigarette,” “Memphis Blues Again,” and “Pretty Prizes), Parquet Courts broke even further out of the Pavement mold with their next two albums, both produced by Danger Mouse (the Black Keys, Gorillaz, Beck).
And this is what has really elevated them in my estimation. Don’t get me wrong: I’m sure it’s not easy to write good Pavement-esque songs. Many lesser bands have tried and failed. But where did these guys come up with the funky title track, the children’s choir on “Death Will Bring Change,” and the catchy piano driven chorus on “Tenderness” on 2018’s Wide Awake? Huzzah! And their sense of humor, which is evident throughout their body of work, is also intact on this album. Exhibit A: a fun song call “Freebird II.” If not for a couple of weaker tracks in the first half, this would probably be my favorite Parquet Courts album. I blame the sequencing.
On 2021’s Sympathy for Life, Danger Mouse both embraced Parquet Court’s indie rock roots on songs like excellent album opener “Walking at a Downtown Pace” and “Just Shadows" and succeeded in pushing them even further out of their comfort zone on songs like the successful experiments “Marathon of Anger,” “Sympathy for Life,” “Zoom Out,” and “Trullo.”
I look forward to seeing what they do next, that is if Andrew Savage hasn’t just decided to go solo. On his second and best album as A. Savage, 2023’s Several Songs About Fire, he ably demonstrates that he can write in the Parquet mode as on “Elvis in the Army” and “David’s Dead.” But most of the album is more acoustic and mellow, like album opener “Hurtin’ or Healed.”
I’m hoping he elects to return to Austin Brown and the rest of the Parquet gang soon, because I’ve never seen them live, but have heard they’re a good time. Here, see for yourself:
For me, Parquet Courts was one of those bands that I thought was “just okay,” only to realize I’d been listening them over and over.
I've been to at least a couple really good PCourts concerts, though the last one I went to in 2022 did not really connect for me (not to say they played badly, hard to pinpoint what seemed to be missing). Anyway, I have a ticket for A. Savage in April and looking forward to the show.