For an intelligent, wry rock band like Parquet Courts it must be difficult to work out what to say in 2016. One option is not to say anything at all, an approach which the band decided to adopt for last year’s Monastic Living EP. The withering critical reception that greeted its release might have given the band pause for thought about whether aggressive instrumental-only releases would be a fruitful career path, though one suspects that the reaction was entirely expected and welcomed. Previous co-frontmen Andrew Savage and Austin Brown chose to examine and pick apart the lives of 20-something Brooklynites, not least when stoned and starving; although they do so again with the usual wisdom, what makes Human Performance stand out quite clearly as Parquet Courts’ best album so far is that they’re not afraid to turn that gaze inwards. Perhaps the best example of this newfound tenderness is the title track, where Savage looks back on a failed relationship. Whereas he may have previously looked on from the outside with a slight sneer in his voice, Savage now appears genuinely heartfelt with a slight tremble in his voice as he notes that “so few are trials when a life isn’t lonely.”

Not to be outdone by his songwriting partner, Brown offers up ‘Steady On My Mind’, a gentle, subdued song that recalls The Velvet Underground’s ‘Pale Blue Eyes’ in all the best ways. Really, it should be no surprise that Parquet Courts can handle love songs in a way that deals with feelings, man, [Editor’s note: yeah, totally dude] but avoids both cliché and cynicism. That is not to say that they’ve entirely turned away from the observational style that characterised their earlier records. The album’s opener, ‘Dust’, uses the subject matter as a metaphor to ruminate on the oppressive claustrophobia of twenty-first-century city life. Yet Parquet Courts create something really special when they combine the two approaches, as they do on the album highlight, ‘Berlin Got Blurry.’ While Savage still finds the time to comment on the local cuisine, he realises its wider importance in creating a feeling of loneliness and alienation. With its spaghetti western riff, never has foreign isolation sounded quite so catchy.

The willingness to delve into new subject matter is also reflected in the diversity of the songs. All the usual influences are there: it’s a bit Modern Lovers, a bit Talking Heads. Yet the band seem more comfortable with them than they have before, and can truly be said to have transcended these touchstones for a sound that is genuinely theirs. ‘I Was Just Here’, with its angular guitar work, is equal parts funny and unsettling, while album centrepiece ‘One Man, No City’ manages to segue successfully from bongo drums to guitar workout. Parquet Courts are never going to reinvent the wheel purely sonically, and it is arguable whether in 2016 any guitar band is going to do so, but their confidence in exploring a variety of sounds suits them well.

It would have been easy for Parquet Courts to stay doing what they were doing. No doubt they could have mined several albums’ worth of material from smart-alec observations and wiry guitars, and happily played show after show to a cult of fans. That’s why it’s even more encouraging that they chose to refuse that option, that they want to get bigger. Ambition has never been particularly high on the agenda for many indie bands, and it’s exciting to think where the band could go from here. They shouldn’t worry too much about it, though, as with Human Performance, Parquet Courts have essentially offered everything one could want from a rock band in 2016.