Courting
New Last Name
LOWER THIRD/PIAS
Welcome to the time of year when we begin asking each other, “So, how’s your 2024 going so far?” Like most small talk, it’s an innocuous comment prompted by pregnant pauses in conversation. But while it’s all well and good for us to check in with each other, the throwaway comment distracts from the far more critical query of, “So, how is your life really going?”
Enter New Last Name, the second album from post-punk squad Courting. Young as the quartet may be, they’re not afraid to address difficult existential issues we all struggle with at various junctures. What makes Courting special is that they’ve found a way to make tackling life’s Big Questions a fun exercise—at no point does the band from Liverpool fall victim to the maudlin mood that overtakes so many of us when we try to make sense of the world.
If that isn’t impressive enough, consider that Courting just released their first album just over a year ago. Guitar Music was a lively but ultimately unfocused effort that led us to believe Courting’s mission as a band is to marry noisy rock with fantastical forays into electronic music. New Last Name takes most of the wind out of that theory, as the band refuses to deviate from playfulness for more than a few moments at a time. Remember when, as a kid, you tried to tattoo images of bucolic scenery in the countryside and impossibly tall buildings in the city in your brain—but couldn’t, because you mom or dad refused to “drive a little slower, for chrissakes”? Courting solve that dilemma by stating through song that life and all its wonders can be appreciated even when we move at breakneck speed.
God knows how many times frontman Sean Murphy-O’Neill’s family, friends, and teachers told him, as a kid, to slow the hell down. That may be good advice, but it’s a good thing Murphy-O’Neill didn’t heed it. New Last Name settles down every now and then, but its nine songs move at a brisk, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it speed that never ceases to captivate. Get distracted for even a second and you’ll miss the stylistic hijinks that drummer Sean Thomas, guitarist Joshua Cope, and bassist Connor McCann utilize to endow New Last Name with adventurous charm. They incorporate sounds ranging from Jimmy Eat World–esque pop-punk to tropicalia to vocoder-laced hip-hop (they’re avowed Kanye fans, as we well know). With trumpets, saxophones, and other instruments added to the mix, the band has discovered that a kitchen-sink approach to songwriting can actually be well organized.
Throughout the 40 minutes Courting devote to daring dalliances, the common denominator remains Murphy-O’Neill’s skill at writing lyrics that represent a fast-paced world without sacrificing his knack for detail. The vocalist’s vocabulary magically connects trivial objects like stained jeans, long hallways, and SD cards with life’s overwhelming challenges: finding love, aging, and pursuing one’s dreams (he even name-drops Celine Dion for smirk-inducing good measure). As New Last Name nears its home stretch on “Happy Endings,” Courting slip in a sample of an audience cheering a job well done. It’s safe to say the band made that decision with tongue firmly planted in cheek. And yet the listener can’t help but join the chorus and go about the rest of their day realizing that the chaos and amusement that life offers us don’t have to be mutually exclusive.
