Have you ever worried that if you listen to Ed Sheeran’s inescapable 2017 hit that you’d go to hell? I don’t know your sense of morality, and by the way Liverpool’s Courting sings about it, they don’t really care either way—that cheeky attitude is key to rising band. Out today, the debut EP Grand National from the irreverent, pop culture name-checking, sardonic, grungy slack-rockers is funny and vibrant. Although it’s only four tracks, Courting make quite the impression with percussion at times reminiscent of LCD Soundsystem, lyrical nods to Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers, and dizzying guitars recalling Parquet Courts.
Over the past couple years, Courting has dropped several tracks, including “David Byrne’s Badside,” which they write on their Bandcamp “is not about David Byrne.” That track isn’t on Grand National, but it does feature the highlight single “Popshop!” where Sean Murphy-O’Neil sings about Ed Sheeran and…hell. The track was inspired about the notion of selling out and rampant consumerism. “The name is derived from Keith Haring’s store of the same name,” they shared, “and the idea that it is positive for your art to be consumed by a larger audience rather than only seen as something for upper class art collectors or something to buy for its future resale value. We’re also poking fun at bands writing the same song over and over again, and wishing that we could sell our bathwater like Belle Delphine.”
Anyway, it’s nice to see that the four-piece finally has a larger collection of tracks, which holds some of their most ambitious writing.
Listen below.
