AMERICAN rockers Parquet Courts are ready to get political.

The acclaimed indie band hit the Art School on Monday night, before returning to the studio to start work on their next album.

It will be the follow-up to last year’s melodic triumph Human Performance, and the band feel now it’s time to get angry.

“I envision the next record as a rock n’ roll record,” says co-singer Andrew Savage.

“The past year or so I’ve felt a lot of anger and resentment about the country I live in and the world as a whole, and that’s where I’ve focused that energy. It feels like it would be dishonest not to write about that bitterness towards America and the world at large, and I’d like to do it constructively, in a way that holds up after the dust has settled politically.

“I want an aggressive record. The last album was popular because of how melodic it was, and it was maybe more conventional songwriting wise. I’m glad we made that record but I definitely don’t want to make it twice.”

That is a trap that Parquet Courts have avoided throughout their career. The quartet’s ragged yet thrilling rock’ n’ roll has always been hard to pin down, with inspirations going from classic post-pink to chaotic American acts like Pavement.

The quality has remained high (save for the misstep of 2015’s mostly instrumental EP, Monastic Living), and they are a group capable of going from angry bursts of noise to hazy pop tunes. They’ve touched upon politics in the past, while a European tour last year saw them critical of Donald Trump.

But can musicians getting political actually change anything, or will they simply divide their fans?

“Whether I influence people’s opinions is not the point,” argues Andrew.

“I don’t view political expression through art as a direct vehicle for change, it’s more a public statement for disapproval. You’re using a forum to vent your anger and say to the rest of the world that this is not what you stand for. I have just got to a point where I have all these feelings about this and it would be immoral to ignore that.”

News of a new album might reassure some of the group’s fans. Earlier Andrew announced he was releasing a solo album, Thawing Dawn, which will come out in the autumn. Although quite different from his Parquets songs, it didn’t take long before rumours started that the band would call it quits.

The reality is less dramatic.

“I noticed I had a bank of songs that had never felt right for any band I was in, and I got frustrated by that,” says Andrew.

“Once I realised the patterns in this music that I could never put to the band, I started writing new material around the common denominator there, and I thought that this was the year I was least busy with Parquet Courts I’d put something out now.”

Perhaps the band will drop a couple of new tracks next week, when they play the Art School. Andrew played in various bands before forming Parquet Courts, and a Scottish trip is something that he always appreciates.

“Every show we’ve played in Glasgow has been amazing, even before Parquet Courts,” he recalls.

“People are really lovely there and it’s a fun town so I enjoy going out afterwards. I always end up talking to strangers for a long time there. I loved Country Teasers, and one of my first indie rock bands I ever liked was Belle & Sebastian, because my girlfriend in high school loved them. Stuart Murdoch’s songwriting has been pretty influential on me.”

Andrew is also a talented painter, and his cover art for Human Performance landed him a Grammy nomination for Best Recording Package. The idea of Parquet Courts at the Grammys is a strange one, given they are as unshowbiz as you could imagine (they don’t even run social media accounts), but Andrew decided to head along, although the prize went to the late David Bowie for Blackstar.

“It was a good excuse to get dressed up and see a big show,” he says.

“I got to see Adele swear on stage, I saw Beyonce and I saw Morris Day and the Time perform. Most other people I had no idea who they were, which shows much attention I pay to pop culture.”

Parquet Courts, Art School, Monday, £15, 7.30pm