While a lot more impressive than the preceding Emperor of Sand, Hushed and Grim does buckle under its own weight.
Not as bad as the collaborations album, albeit not by much.
It’s nice to hear Parquet Courts go in some different directions on Sympathy for Life, but the successes are more or less in the spots that most resemble the previous Wide Awake.
Blue Banisters sounds more slapped together than Lana’s past two LPs.
Deep States is TFS’s weakest batch of songs yet, which is to say it’s not that bad.
What’s all this then?
After the promising first leg, it’s as if everyone working on Punk forgets its direction.