Liverpool’s Courting unveil their first new music of 2025 with the release of “After You,” the second single from their highly anticipated third album, Lust for Life, Or: ‘How To Thread The Needle And Come Out The Other Side To Tell The Story’, set to arrive on March 14 via Lower Third.
“After You” follows the atmospheric first single, “Pause At You,” offering another glimpse into the layered world of Lust for Life… Together, these tracks form a compelling duo, connected by their sonic DNA – a concept that weaves eloquently throughout the whole album. Both songs employ the same synth-driven stylings and evoke a shared sense of anxiety and paranoia. While “Pause At You” bursts with frenetic energy and dance-punk grooves, “After You” pushes the tension further, delivering a visceral, heavy-hitting intensity.
Lust for Life… marks a daring evolution for Courting. Renowned for blending raw indie anthems with experimental boundary-pushing, the album condenses its creativity into eight meticulously crafted tracks designed to make an immediate impact. Frontman Sean Murphy-O’Neill describes the album as “direct and succinct,” with the goal to “hit everyone in the face and leave.”
The duality of Lust for Life… is exemplified in these first two singles. Building on the anxious energy of “Pause At You”, “After You” stands out with its driving rhythm section and immersive production, creating an unsettling unease that lingers. The track encapsulates the album’s essence, particularly through the lyric: “can we split off in groups of two?”
Speaking about the single, Murphy-O’Neill says: “”After You” was the first song that we wrote for Lust for Life. It is an exercise in direct songwriting, an attempt to create something very straightforward. We wanted the wall of guitars and the drums to feel almost hypnotic. A lot of the album is about the idea of duality, and lyrically – the song can be read in either a stalkerish voice or a romantic voice. It’s all up to you.”
Coinciding with the single release, Courting share the official music video for “After You”, directed by longtime collaborator Charlie Barclay-Harris. The video’s stark black-and-white aesthetic amplifies the album’s preoccupation with dichotomy.
From March, Courting will commence on a 9-day run of UK shows starting on March 15th in Leeds’ Belgrave Music Hall and ending on April 9th at Hackney’s Oslo.
Full dates for the UK tour are below and tickets are available here now.
15th March – Leeds – Dark Arts at Belgrave Music Hall
31st March – Newcastle, The Grove
1st April – Glasgow – SWG3 (Warehouse)
3rd April – Nottingham – The Bodega
4th April – Manchester – Gorilla
5th April – Sheffield – Yellow Arch Studio
7th April – Bristol – Thekla
8th April – Birmingham – Mama Roux’s
9th April – London – Oslo
Now on course for three albums and one EP in just three short years, Courting have proven themselves to be a unique force in the UK indie landscape. With Lust for Life, the band pushes their ironically divisive blend of indie, hyperpop, and experimental rock to new heights. Murphy-O’Neill describes the album as a “real culmination of everything we’ve done.” – a precise yet genre-defying work, with each track feeding into a complete, collage-like vision of the band’s influences and ambitions. “‘Lust for Life’ is such a great title,” says Murphy-O’Neill. “It’s used so often because it means so much. Ours is as much Iggy Pop as it is Lana Del Rey. Everything we do is like a collage.”
While their second album, New Last Name, leaned into the idea of a sprawling, theatrical narrative, this time, Courting wanted a more straightforward structure. “I was bored of overthinking,” Murphy-O’Neill admits. “This album is what it is – something immediate, no excess.” Despite this, the album retains a surprising amount of symmetry and conceptual depth. Murphy-O’Neill explains, “Two titles, artwork in two colours, which features two figures, and has eight tracks, all set up with a twin structure. The opening track, is mirrored by the closer, ‘Likely place,’ with the same looping motif played first with strings, then with a sharp electric guitar buzz.”
With Lust for Life, Courting deliver a blend of crowd-pleasing anthems and bold electronic experimentation. From the edgy, rave-like energy of “Stealth Rollback” to the dance-punk groove of “Pause at You” and the pop-leaning melodies of “Eleven Sent (This Time),” Courting move seamlessly between soundscapes. The two-part epic title track, “Lust for Life,” takes the band’s sonic ambitions even further, with an eerie, sparse opening that transforms into a pulse-pounding closer. Murphy-O’Neill explains, “It’s about a credit card scam—it sounds silly, but there’s something really touching about it.”
Courting have firmly established their reputation as one of the UK’s most inventive indie bands. Murphy-O’Neill reflects, “We’ve hit expectations but also subverted them. It does feel like an end to something, but I’m not really sure what. It’s like everything we’ve done so far has culminated in this album.”
Lust for Life, Or: ‘How To Thread The Needle And Come Out The Other Side To Tell The Story’ is out 14th March 2024 via Lower Third
Courting
Lust for Life, Or: ‘How To Thread The Needle And Come Out The Other Side To Tell The Story’
Out March 14th via Lower Third
Tracklisting:
1. Intro
2. Stealth Rollback
3. Pause At You
4. Namcy
5. Eleven Sent (This Time)
6. After You
7. Lust For Life
8. Likely Place For Them To Be
Courting are:
Sean Murphy-O’Neill (Guitar/Vocals)
Sean Thomas (Drums/Vocals)
Josh Cope (Guitar)
Connor McCann (Bass)