- Record Label: Mom + Pop Music / What's Your Rupture?
- Release Date: Jun 3, 2014
Buy Now
| Buy on |
|
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
May 27, 2014From skittish garage-blues ("Duckin and Dodgin") to pale blue-eyed elongations ("Instant Disassembly"), it all hits like a blast of warm subway air on a cold day.
-
Jun 3, 2014As a whole, Sunbathing Animal sees the band adding more dimension to its wordy, sometimes abstract tales.
-
Jun 4, 2014Sunbathing Animal's considered, whip-smart rock revivalism is a work of substantial growth from a band that already did "simple" quite well, placing Parquet Courts in their own distinct weight class.
-
Jun 3, 2014The most nuanced and ambitious work the quartet has yet released.
-
Jun 5, 2014The album’s last bit kind of peters out, but what comes before it is amusing and fun.
-
Jun 4, 2014Maybe it’s just that there’s now enough distance from the ‘90s indie wave that old is the new new again, but there’s no denying Parquet Courts have a knack for making what’s familiar and done feel like you want more of what you already had enough of.
-
Jun 3, 2014Sunbathing Animal offers up lucky-13 tracks and nary a stale song.
-
Jun 3, 2014These performances never surrender to the anxiety of influence: All those comparisons are mere reference points for a loose aesthetic that values sustained chordal vamps above all else.
-
Jun 3, 2014These Brooklyn dudes go even deeper on Sunbathing Animal.
-
Jun 2, 2014Sunbathing Animal is not an immediate or cushy listen, but it is gripping; a considered and brutal reminder that Parquet Courts’ aren’t necessarily an accessible band.
-
Jun 2, 2014It’s a bit of stretch to call Parquet Courts the next trailblazers of off-center indie rock, but they sure got the rock n’ roll part down pat.
-
Jun 2, 2014Sunbathing Animal may not be the shock to the system that Light Up Gold was; it may not be quite the sensation. It is the work of bandmembers in total control of their sound, doing exactly what they should on a second album.
-
Jun 2, 2014This follow-up, an intoxicated, stylistically varied stretch of rigid drum beats, repeated riffs and odes to melancholy, doesn't hide its influences either.
-
May 30, 2014Rising US indie combo Parquet Courts make giant strides on this third outing, where they locate an effective nexus where grunge meets meets avant-rock in colourful pop livery.
-
May 30, 2014Sunbathing Animal is a little long for an album like this (13 songs of music that takes a lot of unwrapping can be exhausting) but the effect is overall excellent.
-
May 28, 2014Their knack for storytelling--which frontman Andrew Savage has always sported no matter what project he’s been involved in--has matured, providing extra strength to the slow jams this time around.
-
May 27, 2014Musically, Sunbathing Animal is much the same as, but slightly more feral than, Light Up Gold, its two-stepping vamps harder and jitterier, its strangled guitar licks more aggressively atonal.
-
May 27, 2014They’re unequivocally, without question, 100% no longer a promising band to watch out for. Instead they’re an essential band to love.
-
May 27, 2014Parquet Courts succeed at remaining magnificent, without really exerting themselves.
-
Jun 3, 2014It doesn’t provide the thrill-a-minute jolts of Light Up Gold, but Parquet Courts may yet become a garage punk band that millennials can call our own.
-
Jul 17, 2014It is a crystallised definition of "record collection rock".
-
Jul 8, 2014PQ are at their best when they’re short, sweet and erratic.
-
Jun 18, 2014The ghosts of Pavement and Sebadoh flit through these pithy songs with free-range abandon.
-
Jun 11, 2014Between the caustic riffs and searing lyrics there’s some damned beauty in Parquet Courts.
-
UncutJun 4, 2014There's no seismic shift here, but the differences--and listening rewards--lie in the indeterminate spaces between their sources. [Jul 2014, p.77]
-
Alternative PressJun 4, 2014Somehow, this record sounds like it's skipping or running at the wrong speed, yet completely natural all the while. [Jul 2014, p.100]
-
Jun 4, 2014Mainly, the band locks into grooves and reigns in some of the cackle of earlier releases, while wisely drunk-dancing in the under-four-minute mode.
-
Jun 3, 2014Though less adventurous than on earlier work, Parquet Courts still manage to deliver a unique record that builds on the foundations of the past.
-
Jun 3, 2014Commendable, but not very enjoyable.
-
May 29, 2014Unlike its predecessor, this isn’t quite a thrilling record; its energy and invention, though, points to big things for Parquet Courts, especially if they can continue to adhere to such a ferocious work ethic.
-
Jun 10, 2014No matter how off-kilter, the sense of personality on this record transcends the tired “slacker” Pavement-core tags often slapped on the band. That alone makes it a step forward.
-
MojoJul 24, 2014This will thrill those who believe Pavement's best album was their first. [Jul 2014, p.86]
-
Jul 1, 2014Another mix of sloppy slacker-pop, warped, indie jangles and insolent post-punk expressionism, Sunbathing Animal nevertheless feels more assured of itself than its acclaimed predecessor.
-
Q MagazineJun 13, 2014Themes of displacement, disillusion, and druggy ennui speak of a band who are no longer enjoying themselves. A shame, because when singer Andrew Savage shakes himself free from the torpor, his anger becomes an energy. [Jul 2014, p.112]
-
Jun 5, 2014It's a world that starts to feel repetitive after a while; and so when they do try something different, it pays off.
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 40 out of 46
-
Mixed: 5 out of 46
-
Negative: 1 out of 46
-
Apr 10, 2016
-
Sep 21, 2014
-
Jul 2, 2014