Unravelling Ideas: Parquet Courts' Sean Yeaton On Humour, Anxiety And 'Human Performance'
Tuesday, 04 October 2016
Written by Milly McMahon
Thrashing out intelligent and chaotically cathartic chords, New York’s four-man noise choir Parquet Courts create music for the more refined punk.
Comprising Austin Brown, Sean Yeaton and brothers Andrew and Max Savage, the band returned with a beguiling, often beautiful new LP, ‘Human Performance’, earlier this year on Rough Trade.
Pushing further into the fringes of experimental indie-rock, it’s a record where anxiety and frustration are fused together with original, confusing and challenging compositions that hustle with the ambient sounds of the city. A smoky, dog-eared irony infuses muffled, sometimes antagonistic tracks that require the listener to invest in the experience.
Requiring thought, engagement and open-mindedness to glean their secrets, the sounds Parquet Courts engineer are geared towards keeping things innovative and moving forward. There is a laid-back good humour to ‘Human Performance’ as it marries the existential with superficial observations to create something deeply alluring. We spoke with Yeaton prior to Parquet Courts' UK tour to learn a bit more about the band’s place in the world right now.
Why did you decide on the title ‘Human Performance’?
Well, our LPs have all got a titular track. In the past, we've had an album title and then usually a song comes from that. In the case of ‘Human Performance’ it was the other way around. We had been toying around with the idea of leaving the record self-titled but when the song Human Performance became one, we all knew had to be on the album. It also became clear that that should probably be the name of the record. It was essential, as far as we were concerned, to have the song featured in order to help all of the other songs gel.
A few records this year have shared similar themes to ‘Human Performance’. On Jessy Lanza’s ‘Oh No’, for example, she explores agitated rhythms and worry-infused melodies throughout. Why do you think anxiety is such a prevalent issue in modern society?
I think struggling with anxiety can be such a singular frustration and, unfortunately, even when there are people in your life who can relate to certain aspects of its manifestation, it's rare that any two people share the same sort of anxieties. On top of that, it's a relatively objective curse that isn't very forgiving when it comes to time management. Is it any more prevalent an issue today than throughout its documented history? I'm not sure, really. I think it's easier for people to find ways to express their anxieties, as well as themselves, through the ways it affects them, which is probably good.
I like how you juxtapose mania with relaxed episodes of ambience throughout the album. Which state of being represents you best as a band?
Interesting question. I don't know that one or the other represents us better. I like to think that in general we're maniacs but also that we're not a total snooze. Speaking purely for myself, I tend to try and keep it even on the spectrum as best as possible. We tour a lot and spend a lot of time together in general so I'd like to think that part of our ability to stay such close friends goes hand in hand with an attempt at not going completely insane around each other. Unless of course we go collectively insane, in which case, I apologise in advance to everyone else on the planet.
Rough Trade turns 40 this year. Why did you decide to work with them again on the this record?
Rough Trade has an exceptionally impressive legacy, and Geoff [Travis] and Jeannette [Lee] are two of the most thoughtful, intelligent and wise people I've had the pleasure to call my friends. They had helped us distribute our records in the UK and Europe before we ever signed with them and we hit it off back then.
I still fondly remember the first time I heard Girl Band on Golborne Road [in London]. Geoff waved me into his office, where he was blasting their song Lawman before Rough Trade extended an offer to sign them and we were both fucking nodding our heads in approval, blaring the shit so loudly, just the two of us, the sort of thing I'd do with any one of my friends.
Jeannette, I'm 70% sure would kill somebody for me if it were absolutely necessary. I can't say enough good things about everyone there. It just clicks really naturally with them and they're extraordinarily supportive of all of our ideas. Our first release with them was an improvised noise record, which I felt made a mutual statement about our unwillingness to give up control of our process, while acknowledging that we'd moved on to a higher level as far as blogs and shit are concerned.
How relevant do you think independent labels are able to remain in the face of consumer pressures streaming sites impose?
In my humble opinion Rough Trade do a great job of maintaining their relevancy in the face of all that. The fact they're still putting out records by bands they like and supporting bands they believe in after 40 years seems evidence of that to me.
It's true a lot of artists are getting heard without the help of, let's say "brick and mortar record labels" these days and those artists who figured out a way to maintain themselves financially that way are really lucky, but if you look at plays online and try to translate that into some kind of monetary value, you're likely to find that those numbers today would have literally valued millions of dollars 40 years ago.
Then again, while maybe a tangible value for music has decreased because of all you mentioned, its presence has increased dramatically. The closest bands like Parquet Courts may have ever gotten to Rough Trade's eardrums 40 years ago would probably have been like, throwing a demo on stage at a Cabaret Voltaire concert or something.
This album took you longer to record than usual. As the music progresses, does pressure to diversify and offer fresh material ever create any writer's block or overwhelming pressures?
We had a lot of opportunities to really unravel ideas we'd been sitting on but unable to pursue until the recording process for ‘Human Performance’ started. We learned so much through getting to work with amazing people like [Wilco frontman] Jeff Tweedy, [Spoon drummer] Jim Eno, and [engineer] Justin Pizzoferrato. We mostly worked with Justin, who is truly a king, but it should be noted that along the way, whether they were engineers or musicians or both, the people we enlisted to help us see our ideas through to the end did so in such a way that seemed goddamn effortless to me at the time, without ever trying to like, encourage us not to, I dunno, conduct a car horn orchestra outside of a cathedral in upstate New York at 10pm. Shit like that.
A significant amount of music being produced by male bands and singer-songwriters feels more emotionally intelligent, free from the constraints of bravado. Has the idea of engaging your audience with more heartfelt transparency ever felt like a motivation for you as a band?
I like to think we're all emotionally intelligent guys, and I think having an outlet through songwriting to explore the murky landscape of our individual battles together is extremely valuable. But we're also pretty lighthearted and like to have a chuckle. I can't speak for all of us but the songs I've contributed to our records from the beginning tend to use some element of humour to pick away at otherwise bleak topics.
I guess some examples of those would be Disney PT, I Was Just Here and a song that is only available on the Japanese pressing of 'Human Performance' called Goofy vs Pluto. Even in my life outside the band, I've found that humour is the easiest way for me express many of my emotions comfortably. Andrew and Austin are both excellent songwriters who astonish me with their own ubiquitous way of writing lyrics that are simultaneously emotional and ‘cool’. I don't think I can do that as well but I'll take humour. Who doesn't like to laugh?
Parquet Courts Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Mon October 10 2016 - MANCHESTER Academy
Tue October 11 2016 - LONDON O2 Forum Kentish Town
Wed October 12 2016 - BRIGHTON Old Market
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