Parquet Courts look like complete muppets in their new ‘Human Performance’ video

Parquet Courts have always had a daft side, but in their new ‘Human Performance’ video, they’re going full on bonkers.

Dodgy, handmade puppets lead the way on their latest album’s title-track’s new vid, re-enacting the themes of the song in the most haphazard form, puppeteers not even attempting to get out of shot. It’s delightfully ridiculous - seriously, that first shot of the puppet singing would make even Alfred Hitchcock crack a smile.

There’s a serious flip-side to the foolishness though - this is Parquet Courts, after all. “I was thinking about the track and how it paints a break-up both elliptically and with such devastating directness,” says the clip’s director, Phil Collins (no, not that one). “And I wondered what it would be like if this drama was enacted not through naturalism or authenticity but through its partners in crime, doubling and artificiality. So puppets seemed an obvious choice.

“A puppet is a complex beast, animated by a human but which also, conversely, brings the puppeteer to life. I thought this kind of dialectics could work well with Andrew’s lyrics, and also found it funny to give starring roles to puppets in a track called ‘Human Performance’.”

Yes, yes, all well and good mate, but really now. This is just silly, isn’t it?

Watch it below - Parquet Courts’ upcoming UK/EU tour is under the player.