Courting is back and better than ever with their third album Lust for Life, Or: ‘How To Thread The Needle And Come Out The Other Side To Tell The Story’, an album all about contradictions and dualities whilst being fully coherent and deliberate. Every piece of this album has been perfectly constructed, from the album title, the cover art and the eight songs which make up this 25-minute masterpiece. All the songs were created with another in mind, each having a twin on the album to reflect and support this idea of similarity and duality across the album.
The album begins rather peacefully with ‘Rollback Intro’, a build-up of charismatic and progressive strings which loops over 48 seconds. This same string riff is repeated on the final song of the album, ‘Likely Place To Be’, firstly on an electric guitar before closing with the same string riff, beautifully tying together the two ends of the album.
‘Stealth Rollback’ in comparison is a complete kick in the teeth, the transition between the songs almost jarring. This is arguably Courting at their most experimental, between the deep, reverberating bass line that will rattle through your bones upon hearing the song live mixed with a drum track reminiscent of The Prodigy. The song takes you on a rollercoaster and creates this explosive beginning to the album… if you exclude the previous intro!
Following on is ‘Pause At You’ which could have easily been released in the 00s, fitting perfectly into the ‘indie sleaze’ aesthetic at that time. With an infectious electric guitar riff and a melodic bass line, it’s no wonder why this
chosen as the lead single. As the chorus hits it feels like summer is right around the corner and you get hit with this overwhelming feeling of joy, wanting to get up and dance like there’s no tomorrow.
Keeping this highly energetic ball rolling is ‘Namcy’, a classic Courting style guitar rock song. A headbanging guitar riff is matched with catchy lyrics and a strong bassline to ensure that this song will always be stuck in your head and proves that if there’s something Courting know how to do, it’s how to make a staggeringly good guitar rock song.
‘Eleven Sent (This Time)’ sounds like the love child of Courting’s previous albums Guitar Music and New Last Name. It’s a simple feel-good indie pop song with an added depth from the gorgeous saxophone riff which flows throughout the song. As Sean Murphey-O’Neill sings ‘I could’ve died in your arms tonight’, you find your hips swaying and your feet tapping. If ‘Pause At You’ felt like summer was around the corner, then this song is summer arriving with a blast of heat and the sun blazing.
Lyrically, ‘After You’ is the most on theme song in the album’s reflection on duality with the lyric ‘Can we split off in groups of two?’. It’s one of the heavier sounding songs on the album but isn’t out of place at all, especially not after the softer and indie pop-esque sounding songs that came before it. With a sharp yet fuzzy sounding main guitar riff and repetitive drum line, a mosh pit wouldn’t be too lost amid a live performance of this song.
The penultimate song on the album is also the title track… technically. ‘Lust For Life’ is six-and-a-half-minutes of Courting at their finest and a song which Murphey-O’Neill described as “[I think] it might be the best song we’ve ever written.” It starts out slow, a melody that will have your body swaying gracefully while being reminded of a sort of mid-70s David Bowie, an electronic sounding drum and deep bass line being followed by a rhythmic and rather soft guitar line. It’s a song in two parts with the second part adopting a totally different sound, one more upbeat and groovy, and it perfectly sums up the range of Courting’s musical ability.
The familiar string melody of ‘Rollback Intro’ introduces “Likely Place To Be’ but this time on an electric guitar. Similarly, the same drum beat from ‘Stealth Rollback’ follows into the final part of the song to conclude the album with an immense surge of energy, one that will leave you craving for more, though the repetition of the strings makes for a satisfying ending at the same time.
Three albums in three years might leave you thinking that Courting could run out of ideas, but if anything, this album proves three things. Firstly, that Courting have found their sound, secondly that they know how to keep things sounding fresh, and thirdly that they know how to make a damn good album. It’s simply impossible to choose a favourite song as the band just get better and better. If their last album New Last Name was only Grammy considered, then this album will certainly be Grammy nominated!
Courting – Lust for Life, Or: ‘How To Thread The Needle And Come Out The Other Side To Tell The Story’ – Out March 14 2025 (Lower Third)
