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Sep 22, 2021 By Mark Redfern

Parquet Courts are releasing a new album, Sympathy for Life, on October 22 via Rough Trade. Now they have shared its next single, “Black Widow Spider,” via an animated claymation video for it. They have also announced some new 2022 tour dates. Shayne Ehman directed the video. Watch it below, followed by all the band’s upcoming tour dates.

The band’s A Savage had this to say about the song in a press release: “I told [producer] Rodaidh McDonald that I wanted to find a sound that was equal parts Can, Canned Heat, and This Heat. He was really into that and probably took some glee in having such a bizarre challenge.”

Ehman had this to say about directing the video: “We were inspired by the claymation master Art Clokey. I wanted the video to feel like it was shot in the 1950s and so I used very old lenses. One was a brass projection lens from the 1860s and another was radioactive.”

Sympathy for Life follows the band’s acclaimed 2018 album Wide Awake!, also released via Rough Trade. In June the band released a new limited edition 12-inch single, “Plant Life,” that isn’t currently available digitally. “Plant Life” is included on the album.

When Sympathy for Life was announced they shared its next single, “Walking at a Downtown Pace,” via a frantic video for it featuring New York City street life. “Walking at a Downtown Pace” was one of our Songs of the Week.

For Sympathy for Life the band worked with producers Rodaidh McDonald (The xx, Hot Chip, David Byrne) and John Parish (PJ Harvey, Aldous Harding, Dry Cleaning). The album was made mainly from improvised jams and inspired by New York clubs, Primal Scream, and Pink Floyd.

“Wide Awake! was a record you could put on at a party,” said co-frontman Austin Brown in a previous press release. “Sympathy For Life is influenced by the party itself. Historically, some amazing rock records have been made from mingling in dance music culture—from Talking Heads to [Primal Scream’s] 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.”

“Most of the songs were created by taking long improvisations and molding them through our own editing,” Brown added. “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.”

Feel Free - Sympathy For Life, Visualised will be a livestream of 11 videos, one for each song on the album, each directed by a different visual artist. It will stream on October 20 and is a ticketed event. Tickets cost $15 (or $10 if you buy them in the next three days) and ticket-holders will also get access to exclusive merch. You can buy tickets here.

Parquet Courts also announced The Power of Eleven, which will be 11 global events, or “happenings” as a press release calls them, each in a different city (including London, Tokyo, Paris, Mexico City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Brooklyn, and Austin) and each tied to a different song on the album and a different piece of exclusive merch. More info on future The Power of Eleven events can also be found on the band’s website.

Read our 2018 interview with Parquet Courts on Wide Awake!.

Parquet Courts Tour Dates:

Sat. Sept. 18 - Augustine, FL @ Sing Out Loud Festival
Wed. Sept. 22 - Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre &
Fri. Sept. 24 - Marfa, TX @ Trans-Pecos Festival
Sun. Sept. 26 - Accord, NY @ Woodsist Festival
Sat. Oct. 2 - Tampa, FL @ Gasparilla Music Festival
Thu. Oct. 28 - Saxapahaw, NC @ Haw River Ballroom ^
Fri. Oct. 29 - Richmond, VA @ The National ^
Sat. Oct. 30 - Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar ^
Sun. Oct. 31 - Lancaster, PA @ Tellus360 ^
Wed. Nov. 03 - Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground !
Thu. Nov. 04 - Portland, ME @ State Theatre !
Fri. Nov. 05 - Holyoke, MA @ Gateway City Arts !
Sat. Nov. 06 - Asbury Park, NJ @ The Stone Pony !
Mon. Nov. 15 - Dallas, TX @ Studio at the Factory
Wed. Nov. 17 - Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
Fri. Nov. 19 - Austin, TX @ Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheatre
Sun. Nov. 21 - Mexico City, MX @ Corona Capital Music Festival
Sun. Feb. 27 - Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel *
Mon. Feb. 28 - Athens, GA @ Georgia Theatre *
Wed. March 2 - Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse *
Thu. March 3 - Birmingham, AL @ Saturn *
Fri. March 4 - Nashville, TN @ Cannery Ballroom *
Sat. March 5 - St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant *
Mon. March 7 - Lawrence, KS @ Liberty Hall *
Tue. March 8 - Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room *
Thu. March 10 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue *
Fri. March 11 - Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall *
Sat. March 12 - Chicago, IL @ The Riviera Theatre *
Sun. March 13 - Detroit, MI @ MOCAD *
Tue. Mar. 15, 2022 - Millvale, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre *
Wed. Mar. 16, 2022 - Cleveland, OH @ Agora Theatre *
Thu. March 17 - Toronto, ON @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre *
Fri. March 18 - Montreal, QC @ Corona Theatre *
Thu. March 31 - Boston, MA @ Royale #
Fri. April 1 - Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel $
Sat. April 2 - Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel #
Mon. April 4 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club #
Tue. April 5 - Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore %
Fri. April 22 - Seattle, WA @ Showbox at the Market
Sat. April 23 - Vancouver, BC @ The Imperial
Mon. April 25 - Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
Wed. April 27 - Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater
Thu. April 28 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern Theatre
Fri. April 29 - Pomona, CA @ The Glass House
Sat. April 30 - San Diego, CA @ The Observatory North Park
Sat. May 21 - Paris, FR @ La Trianon
Sun. May 22 - Antwerp, BE @ Trix
Tue. May 24 - Cologne, DE @ Stollwerck
Wed. May 25 - Berlin, DE @ Heimathafen Neukölln
Fri. May 27 - Hamburg, DE @ Uebel & Gefährlich
Sat. May 28 - Nijmegen, NL @ Doornroosje
Mon. May 30 - Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
Tue. May 31 - Lille, FR @ Le Grand Mix
Wed. June 1 - Lyon, FR @ Epicerie Moderne
Fri. June 3 - Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound
Wed. June 8 - Brighton, UK @ Chalk
Thu. June 9 - London, UK @ Brixton O2 Academy
Sat. June 11 - Dublin, IE @ Helix
Sun. June 12 - Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall
Mon. June 13 - Leeds, UK @ Stylus
Wed. June 15 - Glasgow, UK @ The Barrowland Ballroom
Thu. June 16 - Birmingham, UK @ O2 Institute

& supporting Portugal. The Man
^ w/ P.E.
! w/ Public Practice
* w/ Mdou Moctar
# w/ Hailu Mergia
% w/ Sun Ra Arkestra

$ w/ Yu Su

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