Courting - Lust for Life, Or: ‘How To Thread The Needle And Come Out The Other Side To Tell The Story

Less than a year after their second record New Last Name, Courting return with a leaner, sharper sound, while solidifying their mischievous genre-blending reputation with eight meticulously crafted tracks that balance an infectious pop sensibility with intense, playful experimentation.

After exploring the grand theatrical style of New Last Name, this new album marks a shift toward a stripped-back, direct approach. “We wanted to keep everything incredibly direct - to hit everyone in the face and leave,” explains vocalist Sean Murphy-O’Neill. Yet despite its immediacy, the album retains the band’s characteristic wit, loaded with hidden references, in-jokes, and musical Easter eggs that reflect a true blend of fun and sophistication.

 Lust for Life, Or: 'How To Thread The Needle And Come Out The Other Side To Tell The Story', is centred around duality.

 Each song on the album is 'twinned', with another, existing within the same type of world. Take for example the opening and closing bookends of the record, both featuring the same string melody but with the first serving as an orchestral introduction, and the second as a speeding dance punk track. Tracks 2 and tracks 8 interpolate the same drum and string samples but shift them into completely different beasts. The first sitting somewhere between 2010's dubstep and a noise band covering a small faces track, and the latter being a multi part, auto-tune crooning ballad with a striking saxophone solo.

 The aim is clear as Courting balance the indie & pop songwriting of their previous records with their most experimental moments, each detail more refined than the last time.