Parquet Courts have returned to announce their new album, Sympathy For Life, out October 22nd via Rough Trade Records. As part of the announcement, they’ve shared a video for their new single “Walking at a Downtown Pace.”

“Walking at a Downtown Pace” is a gritty new track with upbeat, guitar-driven instrumentals. It also boasts some throaty, new wave-style vocals that are sure to get you dancing. The accompanying video, directed by street photographer Daniel Arnold, follows the band through the streets of New York City. It captures a perfect balance of fun and chaos.

“We see New York City from the vantage point of someone busily hurrying through it,” co-frontman A Savage explains. “That’s what life can be like here; a world of constant motion surrounds you while you’re just walking toward where you need to be. There’s a lot of beauty that can be missed, and it wasn’t until the streets were virtually empty that I did miss it. The song was written before all quarantine, but eerily enough the lyrics echo that longing. Now the city is back and, so it seems, are Parquet Courts.”

Watch the video for “Walking at a Downtown Pace” and learn more about Sympathy For Life below.
 

More about Sympathy For Life:

Parquet Courts are exploring a new genre of thought-provoking rock on their upcoming album. While staying true to their unique sound, the band will be at their most instinctive and electronic on the follow-up to 2018’s Wide Awake@

“Wide Awake! was a record you could put on at a party,” co-frontman Austin Brown explains. “Sympathy For Live is influenced by the party itself. Historically, some amazing rock records have been made from mingling in dance music culture – from Talking Heads to Screamadelica. Our goal was to bring that into our own music. Each of us, in our personal lives, has been going to more dance parties. Or rather, we were pre-pandemic, which is when this record was made.”

Check out the tracklist for Sympathy For Life below.
 

Sympathy For Life Tracklist:

01 – “Walking At A Downtown Pace”
02 – “Black Widow Spider”
03 – “Marathon of Anger”
04 – “Just Shadows”
05 – “Plant Life”
06 – “Application Apparatus”
07 – “Homo Sapien”
08 – “Sympathy For Life”
09 – “Zoom Out”
10 – “Trullo”
11 – “Pulcinella”

Most of the songs were created by taking long improvisations and moulding them through our own editing,” Brown adds. “The biggest asset we have as artists is the band. After 10 years together, our greatest instrument is each other. The purest expression of Parquet Courts is when we are improvising.”
 
Lead photo courtesy of Ebru Yildiz.