Album Review: Parquet Courts - Wide Awake!

For their sixth album, Brooklyn-based indie-rock lynchpins stretch their punk-imbued aesthetic into slightly more funky territory - all hip-shaking bass lines and slightly unorthodox rhythms - abetted in their task by long-term fan Brian Burton (aka Danger Mouse) lending his production nous to the quest.

But fear not, it's still a resolutely Parquet Courts affair, just that their trademark catchy verbosity is placed in slightly different sonic contexts (the slinky, propulsive title track being a case in point).

Chief songwriters Andrew Savage and Austin Brown take different-but-complementary lyrical approaches throughout - the former tackling America's current societal woes head-on in screeds like Total Football, Violence and NYC Observation, with the latter focusing inwards on love and loss on tunes like Mardi Gras Beads and Death Will Bring Change - but any prevailing angst is tempered by the upbeat music and the tinge of optimism that shines through the squall, especially on closing piano romp Tenderness.

This isn't a case of change for the sake of change - Parquet Courts are definitely evolving musically with one eye firmly on the bigger picture - and it'll be fascinating to see where this quenchless artistic ambition takes them next.