Maximo Park: ‘This One Was More Relaxed In Approach’

Despite having released their fourth full-length ‘The National Health’ just last summer, consequently touring it for the following however-many-months, five-piece Maximo Park have announced that they’re already set to return next year. They’re emerging with a brand new record, too.

“We initially wanted to just do an EP,” admits frontman Paul Smith, “but found we were on a roll.”

The tracks that were set to make up their first real foray into the extended player originally saw Field Music’s Brewis brothers at the helm. However, after a rather creative spurt with their fellow Northerners, things grew into much more, and the album had – rather accidentally – gotten firmly under way.

“We know the Brewis Brothers well and they’re very capable people in the studio. They worked on five songs from the record: they allowed the album to get started very quickly after we’d finished touring ‘The National Health’, which was important because our own studio wasn’t ready at that time.”



They weren’t the only ones to contribute to the latest from the Geordie band: The Invisible’s Dave Okumu is another credit on their production sheet. “Dave Okumu has the knowledge and skills to deal with more electro sounds and I loved his work on Jessie Ware’s album as well as the Lulu James single, ‘Closer’. He added a few extra sonic brushstrokes that completed the picture!

“I think it’s good to have outside opinions, especially in a democratic band like ours with every member contributing to either the songwriting or the arrangements. We don’t like to tread on each others toes, but we still all have deep-rooted opinions, which can lead to an impasse. That’s where an objective stance comes in handy.”

Already, the album’s lead single ‘Brain Cells’ has been offered up, and this time around, it’s somewhat of a darker, different affair. Does it give a good indication or what’s to come, or does it sit proudly as the album’s ultimate wild card? “The whole album consists of eleven wild cards! It represents the album in terms of being fresh and new and hinting at the themes of memory and night-life, which also run through many of the other songs. However, the style is just one of many, partially explaining the album title ‘Too Much Information’, in tandem with our usual emotionally-driven romanticism, which we are aware may be too much info for some!”

Maximo Park release ‘Too Much Information’ on 3rd February.

Taken from the new, free DIY Weekly, available to read online or to download on iPad now.