Album Review Courting - Guitar Music

From the jarring electronic soundscape generated by opener ‘Twin Cities’ through to the bombastic, maximalist rhythm of ‘PDA’, Courting - led by a deformed vocal from frontman Sean Murphy-O’Neill - take listeners on a thematic and sonic thrill ride. Observing their surroundings with an audible sense of horror, the outfit describe their ongoing mental journey with a disjointed but ever more relevant tone of trepidation. The epic eight minutes of ‘Uncanny Valley’ attempt to find solace in relationships, but when this reclusion is torn apart, the band walk out of the scarring venture with a forced, barely-held-together grin. Producer James Dring facilitates this step forward and captures a sense of excitement in the group, distorting their message while somehow increasing its potency; the record makes no attempt to shroud emotional reactions to the modern world, and it results in a thematically poignant, lyrically sharp and sonically surprising statement piece that redeems what was once used as a dismissive label.