Parquet Courts A. Savage, Brooklyn Band P.E. Go Full Noir on New Song ‘Tears in the Rain’

Parquet Courts’ A. Savage has linked up with fellow Brooklynites P.E. for a moody new song, “Tears in the Rain.” The track will appear on P.E.’s upcoming second album, The Leather Lemon, out March 25 via Wharf Cat Records.

“Tears in the Rain” feels like the perfect soundtrack for a neo-noir, with just a bit of tongue-in-cheek: A lean bass line and strange synth twists anchor the song, while Savage and P.E. vocalist Veronica Torres let their hushed voices drift around each other. The song is pulled together by — what else? — the lonesome moan of a saxophone, provided by P.E.’s Benjamin Jaffe. 

Complementing the song is a simple, striking, yet legitimately silly visual. In it, a mysterious, pink-haired person stares intently into a phone, a wry smile on their face, watching the same short Instagram video play on a loop for the full four-and-a-half-minute length of “Tears in the Rain.”

In a statement, Torres said that “Tears in the Rain” began as a live recording based around samples of P.E.’s Jonny Campolo at the piano, mixed with Jaffe’s one-take sax performance. “It was Andrew that helped us see it through in the studio, driving the troubadour style feel of the song,” she continued. “He and I wrote lyrics side-by-side and for one another, intensifying the surreality of the instrumental and stretching it far beyond the classic ‘call and response’ duet format. The result is the most tender song on the record, one we are all proud of for the way it has altered the perception and possibilities of the project.”

P.E. — which was formed by members of the bands Pill and Eaters — released their debut album, Person, in 2020, while last year they dropped an EP, The Reason for My Love. Their second album, The Leather Lemon, was recorded at band member Jonathan Schenke’s Studio Windows in Brooklyn.