Today, Liverpool four-piece Courting release their critically acclaimed new album New Last Name on vinyl and CD. To mark the album’s release the band have shared a new single titled “Battle”.
Taken from the recording sessions of New Last Name, the single marks the final piece of the puzzle, this classic vignette talks about clearing out the mess and being vaguely spiteful whilst unfathomably bored.
The track sees the band deliver the message with clever lyricism which is juxtaposed by hook-heavy indie-pop choruses wrapped-up in their unique idiosyncratic indie-grit style.
Listen to “Battle” HERE
The new album follows the band’s 2023 return and was recorded in collaboration with indie heroes Gary and Ryan Jarman of The Cribs, who worked closely with the band on production duties for a number of tracks.
Lauded London duo DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ also lent their production skills to Courting’s recent single “We Look Good Together (Big Words)”, which was announced earlier this year.
New Last Name is an album as adventurous thematically as it is sonically – but as its title suggests, it hints at new beginnings. “It’s a theatrical play within an album,” explains frontman Sean Murphy O’Neill. “. “There’s a lot going on.
It can be simply enjoyed as an album, but there are characters, acts, stage directions etc. The listeners can decide on the narrative themselves, but we want them to get lost in it.”
From the baroque strings in “Flex” or even the country-tinged stylings of “Babys”, it would be an understatement to call “New Last Name” adventurous. That’s all before you even come onto the drum and bass drumming of the vibrant and vital “Happy Endings”.
Brimming with nuance and pop culture references, the only constant is that the Liverpool group maintain their irrepressible sense of abandon.
The ambition of Courting’s new album has not gone unnoticed by the media either earning cover features from the likes of Dork, and plaudits from the likes of BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 6 Music, NME, Pitchfork, the Guardian, DIY, Stereogum, CLASH, The Line Of Best Fit, 1883, whynow, The Needle Drop, and many more.
Going on to speak about the album, Murphy O’Neill says, “I’ll admit that New Last Name isn’t really a play. Whilst it IS tied together by a narrative thread – it’s actually a collection of our most contained pop songs, and strangest experiments sat side by side.
New Last Name is unrestrained and chaotic. At the same time, it is more focused and detail-oriented than anything we’ve done before. New Last Name is a study in contradictions, and it’s the best damn play south of the north pole.”
Following the album’s release, the play is now on the road with the band currently on tour in the EU, following a packed out run of UK dates. The band are also set to play a 750-cap hometown show at Liverpool’s The Hanger in late-May.
Having cemented themselves as a must-see live act, Courting toured as main support for Circa Waves last year and toured their debut album “Guitar Music” extensively last Autumn as well as performing at multiple summer festivals including Reading & Leeds Festival, Wide Eyed Festival, Latitude, Truck Festival, Live At Leeds, Community Festival, and The Great Escape.
They also came together earlier this year for “The Wedding” – a hometown wedding-themed show which saw the band unveil new material for the first time – which NME reviewed, describing them as “one of the most innovative and elevated acts of the moment.”
