Courting return with a short but lively album.

With just eight tracks on this album, three of them already released as singles and the first track being a forty-eight second intro of off-kilter violin it doesn’t leave a whole lot left to actually review here. I can’t decide if this is too slight as an album or if Courting are being very sensible about their release schedule. The concept of the album where bands release their output every two or three years is probably outdated when you consider how groups, other than the industry-leading giants, actually need to make money these days. Perhaps it is better to release less new material more often in order to stay relevant, keep touring, keep feeding the never-ending content machine.

Given the short amount of material an awful lot of ground is covered here. After the violin introduction ‘Stealth Rollback’ is surprisingly more like something Warp Records might put out than your typical indie-guitar band would produce. Half-way through that violin from the intro re-emerges and it starts to resemble more of a band effort, part Kid-A era Radiohead, part post-punk shoutathon. From here, excellent single ‘Pause For You’ kicks in and escalates things beautifully. A proper indie banger that resembles The Wombats blended with Hard-Fi with DFA like production smothered in glorious cowbell. It is an absolute belter of a tune.

Next comes new single ‘Namcy,’ which in a roundabout way references Bowie’s ‘Absolute Beginners’ and, with its refrain of “Get me Away from here, I’m dying”, feels connected with the Belle and Sebastian track of the same name. It deals with the intensity of a new relationship and how that begins to change. Musically ‘Eleven Sent (This Time)’ carries on into slightly more indie-pop territory with a rich palette of brass and violin enhancing the sound.

‘After You’ is the absolute high point of the record, a driving rhythm section powering what might just be one the singles of the year once the dust settles. ‘Lust For Life’ is not an Iggy Pop cover but a sprawling six-minute epic. Starting off slowly and quietly, it gradually begins to build, springing into life about two minutes and forty seconds in. There is a saxophone, because the saxophone is officially back as a weapon of awesomeness in modern indie thanks to Sam Fender, Fat Dog and everyone else ploughing that furrow. At four minutes and twenty seconds it suddenly breaks down into a slightly funk-groove before turning into a different classic sounding indie track before abruptly stopping without any warning. You must have a certain level of class to be able to pull things like this off and Courting clearly have it in abundance.

Final track ‘Likely place for them to be’ returns to the violin of ‘Rollback Intro’ but this time it is electrified and blends into a lead-guitar picking up on the theme. ‘Lust For Life’ makes sense as the album title as these eight tracks are brimming with ideas, vitality and a sense of beautiful chaos. Courting are a band chock-full of imagination and if they want to pop up with a handful of tracks this good every year then I for one would be more than happy to welcome it.