Courting - Guitar Music (LP)

Courting’s debut album arrives with a title that reads like a dare. Guitar Music, released 23 September 2022 via Play It Again Sam, is a cheeky promise and a misdirect at once. Yes, there are six-strings, but the Liverpool four-piece lean into clattering electronics, serrated samples and a sing-speak style that lands closer to chaotic pop than straight indie. It is the sort of record that rattles your expectations, then buys you a pint for the trouble.

The shift makes sense if you followed the band through their Grand National EP era. Where many of their UK contemporaries doubled down on rigid post-punk, Courting swerved. They talked in interviews about wanting to blow up the idea of what a guitar band could be, and you can hear that urge everywhere. The opener Tennis doesn’t parade riffs so much as thread them through alarm-bell synths and cheer-squad chants. It feels like running out onto a five-a-side pitch already two goals down, buzzing and a little giddy.

Jumper? arrives as the first real tell of the album’s palette. Vocals ride a pitched, glitch-kissed line, drums skitter, then the song shoves itself into a sugar-rush refrain that would be pure pop if it were not so scuffed. It is catchy in a way that rewards repeat spins, the kind of track you hum while waiting for your train, wondering if anyone else on the platform is hearing the same buried hooks. Then Loaded drops in with a heavier stomp and a grin, a reminder that Courting can still write the sort of singalong that goes off in 300-cap rooms with warm beer sloshing over your shoes.

Famous? is the album’s slyest moment, prodding at internet-era shine with a chorus built to be shouted back at them. There is plenty of talk-sung detail here, but what sells it is the production’s grit. When the band yank back the arrangement and let a single refrain hang in the air, it lands with a thud. That push and pull is everywhere on Guitar Music. They flip from club-night sparkle to sticky-floored rock club within a verse, then toss in a detail that widens the grin, like a crowd-sampled chant or a guitar line that squeals like a drill.

The record’s reputation for risk paid off. NME praised the left turn, and DIY called out the ambition and cheek, which feels about right. Courting still write with a classic northern bite, but they cast their net wider, pulling in the gloss of hyperpop and the jittery energy of dance-punk. It is not novelty. The structures are tight, the choruses memorable, and the lyrics sharper than first impressions suggest. There is a sense of a young band funnelling a lot of late-night listening into something that still sounds like them.

On vinyl, the punch is real. The Guitar Music vinyl pressing lets the low end thump without smudging the frenetic top layer, and those cut-up vocal moments snap into focus. If you are crate-digging in a Melbourne record store and spot it, grab it. Courting albums on vinyl tend to disappear after a tour swings through, and this one feels built for the format. It fills a room at polite volume, but it really comes alive when you nudge the needle a little hotter and let the kick knock.

It also works as a statement of intent. Debut albums can get bogged down by the weight of expectation. Courting dodge that by making the expectation the punchline. The title reads like a shrug, yet the music is animated, agitated and oddly tender in spots. When the band let a melody sit still for a moment, you hear the heart under the swagger. It is not interested in being tasteful. It is interested in being exciting, and it mostly is.

If you are hunting Courting vinyl and want the most direct way in, start here. This is the record that maps out their corner of the scene, then redraws it with brighter textas. For anyone trying to buy Courting records online in Australia, plenty of local shops keep PIAS stock moving, and it is a fun one to file between energy-drink post-punk and bright, busted pop. Spin it once for the rush, twice for the details, and a third time because the chorus from Jumper? will not leave you alone. That is the trick Guitar Music pulls off. It tweaks the formula until it becomes a new one, then dares you not to dance.