It’s been almost two years since Parquet Courts’ last full-fledged album, 2016’s Human Performance. But this band is always moving, and they’ve done plenty since: Amidst touring behind their latest release, they found time to collaborate with Italian composer Daniel Luppi for Milano, an album that came out right around co-frontman Andrew Savage’s solo debut as A. Savage.

Along the way, the group prepped their followup to Human Performance. We’ve known that album was on the way since late last year, and fans recently received mail featuring artwork and a URL that led to a Parquet Courts countdown clock. Now, the countdown is over and we finally know the details of Parquet Courts’ next outing.

The album is called Wide Awake!, and — as the band previously revealed — they went with the somewhat unlikely choice of Danger Mouse as a producer. The aim was to push them out of their comfort zone, and the band’s positioning Wide Awake! as a more ferocious and uptempo collection than Human Performance.

Previously, Parquet Courts had suggested that Wide Awake! would grapple with the atmosphere of the United States and living here during these tumultuous times. “In such a hateful era of culture, we stand in opposition to that — and to the nihilism used to cope with that — with ideas of passion and love,” co-leader Austin Brown said of the new material. Savage added that his goal was to write propulsive songs that made people want to dance while also “expressing anger constructively but without trying to accommodate anyone.”

Along with the announcement, Parquet Courts have shared Wide Awake!‘s lead single, “Almost Had To Start A Fight/In And Out Of Patience.” As the split title hints, it’s a track built on two distinct halves, the first revolving around Savage’s stuttering, percussive barks, with lyrics that certainly capture the themes the band’s been talking about. (“I want/ I want/ I want/ I want/ Not to feel numb about death” is one that hits particularly hard given current events in this country.) It’s the angry passage that precedes the dance — the jittery groove of “In And Out Of Patience,” a catchy minute and a half burst that recalls bits of Light Up Gold. The song is accompanied by a cartoon video partially influenced by the album’s cover art, animated by Savage. Check it out below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Total Football”
02 “Violence”
03 “Before The Water Gets Too High”
04 “Mardi Gras Beads”
05 “Almost Had To Start A Fight/In And Out Of Patience”
06 “Freebird II”
07 “Normalization”
08 “Back To Earth”
09 “Wide Awake”
10 “NYC Observation”
11 “Extinction”
12 “Death Will Bring Change”
13 “Tenderness”

TOUR DATES:
02/22 – Santa Cruz, CA @ Coconut Grove Ballroom w/ Thurston Moore
02/23 – Los Angeles, CA @ Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever w/ Mary Lattimore
02/24 – Los Angeles, CA @ Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever w/ Anna St. Louis
04/24 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
04/26 – Austin, TX @ Stubb’s – Levitation
04/27 – Norman, OK @ Norman Music Festival
04/28 – Dallas, TX @ Sons of Hermann Hall
04/29 – Englewood, CO @ The Gothic Theatre
05/05 – Atlanta, GA @ Shaky Knees Festival
05/23 – Boston, MA @ Royale
05/24 – Providence, RI @ Fete Ballroom
05/25 – Portland, ME @ Port City Music Hall
05/26 – Montreal, QC @ Theatre Fairmount
05/27 – Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Theatre
05/28 – Detroit, MI @ El Club
05/30 – Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre
05/31 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line
06/01 – Lawrence, KS @ The Granada
06/02 – St Louis, MO @ Ready Room
06/03 – Nashville, TN @ Basement East
06/05 – Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel
06/06 – Carborro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
06/07 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
06/08 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
07/04 – Berlin, DE @ Festsaal Kreuzberg
07/05 – Hamburg, DE @ Molotow
07/06 – Groningen, NL @ Vera
07/08 – Hérouville saint Clair, FR @ Festival Beauregard Festival
07/12 – Bilbao, ES @ Bilbao BBK Festival
07/14 – Beccles, UK @ Latitude Festival
07/15 – Kortrijk, BE @ De Kreun
07/17 – Duedingen, CH @ Bad Bonn

Wide Awake! is out 5/18 via Rough Trade Records. Pre-order it here.

CREDIT: Ebru Yildiz