New Last Name [LP]

Liverpool-based four piece; Courting returns with sophomore album, New Last Name. The new album is unrestrained and chaotic, and at the same time more focused and detail-oriented than anything Courting have done before. "We'd spent our last album campaign giving ourselves a fresh slate," explains vocalist Sean Murphy-O'Neill. "That whole record to me in hindsight felt like we had a chance to get rid of any misconceptions about us and present ourselves as an interesting band. On New Last Name, we're moving past that, we just want to make something really special." Brimming with nuance and pop culture references, the band strikes up a track list ranging from funk-pop guitars in "We Look Good Together" through to the baroque strings in "Flex" or even the country-tinged stylings of "Babys". It would be an understatement to call New Last Name adventurous.