‘It’s meant to feel very contradictory and confusing but it’s also fully realized’. Courting’s Sean Murphy-O’Neil hits the nail on the head when describing the Liverpool band’s third album ‘Lust for Life, Or: ‘How To Thread The Needle And Come Out The Other Side To Tell The Story’ (out via Lower Third on 14 March 2025).
‘Rollback Intro’ has a DIY feel that is deliciously at odds with the filthy electro sound of the noisier second track, ‘Stealth Rollback’. ‘Pause at You’ finds Courting back in the playground you’d expect – woozy indie pop with rasping vocals, samba beats and melodic hooks you’ll be humming for days, plus a singalong moment of ‘I always see you around’.
‘Namcy’ captures the delightfully ramshackle nature of early Cribs, clocking in at just over three minutes with talk of being ‘just two absolute beginners’ and a plea to a loved one to ‘get me out of here’. ‘Eleven Sent (This Time)’ puts relationship woes front and center – ‘These buildings are made of glass’ – as the band jumps into fuzzy, jazzy interludes.
‘After You’ is two and a half minutes of distorted and fully post punk, while title track ‘Lust for Life’ is the longest song on the record, throwing in vocoder-enhanced vocals, chamber pop hooks and lyrics that veer from lamenting secrets being hidden behind a paywall to a romantic plea of ‘I hope that we stay out tonight. Plus some bursts of brass.
The album closes with ‘Likely Place for Them to Be’, another fine slice of power pop that recalls Cheap Trick or The Strokes. ‘Lust for Life’ (no, we’re not typing out the full title again…) is packed with relentlessly catchy that expertly capture all of life’s foibles…
