Parquet Courts drop video and reveal new 12″

Parquet Courts drop new video for "Human Performance. Parquet Courts have also anounced the August 19th

Today, Parquet Courts share the video for “Human Performance,” conceived, directed, and puppeteered by English visual artist (and Turner Prize nominee) Phil Collins. That’s right, we said “puppeteered.” In a masterwork of discomfort, Collins utilizes the tools of the storied school of German puppeteering to create a video that features the following: Parquet Courts as puppets, puppet violence, puppet sex, puppet/human relations, perhaps puppet love? Also, the band is announcing the August 19th release of the “Performing Human” 12″, which will feature an alternate take of “Human Performance” as well as remixes of the song by Eaters and Chris Pickering from Future Punx.

“I was thinking about the track and how it paints a breakup both elliptically and with such devastating directness,” says Collins. “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.”

All this feeds into the narrative of the song. As songwriter Andrew Savage said earlier this year to NPR Music, “The catalyst of the song ‘Human Performance’ [reflects] my own flawed performance of humanity, and how it affects those around me.” How better to represent a staged performance of humanity than to strip away the human element so only the performance remains?

“Purple” premiered the video earlier today, along with a conversation between Andrew Savage and Phil Collins. “As I see it, humanity is something that’s partly performed and party instinctual. Like puppets, we sometimes are controlled by parts of ourselves that we never really become acquainted with, but are always there. This song is me confronting that shadow,” says Savage.

PARQUET COURTS TOUR DATES:
Sat. Aug. 13 – Brooklyn, NY @ Market Hotel
Mon. Aug. 15 – Austin, TX @ The Mohawk
Thu. Aug. 18 – Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory
Fri. Aug. 19 – San Diego, CA @ Irenic
Sat. Aug. 20 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent
Mon. Aug. 22 – San Francisco, CA @ The Regency Ballroom
Tue. Aug. 23 – Petaluma, CA @ Lagunitas Amphitheater
Fri. Aug. 26 – Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
Sat. Aug. 27 – Vancouver, BC @ Vogue Theater
Sun. Aug. 28 – Portland, OR @ MFNW – Project Pabst Festival
Mon. Oct 10 – Manchester, UK @ Academy 2
Tue. Oct 11 – London @ The Forum
Wed. Oct. 12 – Brighton, UK @ Old Market
Sat. Oct. 15 – Groningen, NL @ Vera
Mon. Oct. 17 – Cologne, DK @ Gebaude 9
Tue. Oct 18 – Berlin, DK @ SO 36
Wed. Oct 19 – Prague, CR @ MeetFactory
Thu. Oct 20 – Munich, DK @ Storm
Sun. Oct 23 – Milan, IT @ Bko
Tue. Oct 25 – Zurich, CH @ Rote Fabrik
Wed. Oct 26 – Strasbourg, FR @ La Laitiere
Thu. Oct 27 – Paris, FR @ Pitchfork Festival Paris

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