Upcoming Releases

Maxïmo Park have shared new track "I Don't Know What I'm Doing", taken from their upcoming new album Nature Always Wins (out 2/26 on Prolifica Inc.). The new track is the band at their most direct and agile, arriving in a revved-up and snaking flurry it confronts the fear, anxiety and guilt associated with the cause-and-effect nature of one’s own actions.

Lead singer Paul Smith comments: “It's about taking responsibility for how your own behaviour can affect other people, and how nobody knows it all, but that doesn't stop us from trying. More personally, it's about the fears and self-doubt I've experienced as a new parent, which we've tried to put across in our new video via the more abstract notion of an endless ladder!”

It follows, then, that Nature Always Wins arrives as something of an examination, zeroing in on the notion of the self, identity as a band, and that of humanity as a whole. The album’s title nods to the famous Nature vs Nurture debate. Discussing whether change is capable under the influence of time, perspective, environment or if we are destined to be bound by our own genetics, it asks, “who are we, who do we want to be, and do we have any control over it?”.

Refining their approach as a three-piece, writing began last summer with Smith, Lloyd and English seeking a different kind of fourth member - a producer who was also a musician. Fitting the bill came Atlanta-based Grammy-winning producer Ben Allen (Animal Collective, Deerhunter) who afforded the band freedom to play and create. What wasn’t anticipated was how that freedom would be soon be stripped, as Lockdown restrictions left the band making the most of technological advances to perform real-time recording sessions across the ocean – themselves in Newcastle and Liverpool, with Allen at the helm in Atlanta.

Paul Smith comments: “I'm so happy we were able to make this album during lockdown, as it's been a challenging time for everyone. After almost 4 years since Risk To Exist, we wanted to explore new musical territory (for us) without sacrificing our trademark melodic twists and heartfelt lyrics.  As always, the passing of time looms large, although the songs contain more affection for the past than before, and there are occasional hints of the fractious, divided time that we live in. Baby, Sleep is a light-hearted look at the surreal nature of sleep-deprivation, and the way it distorts normality in a capitalist society.”

Track listing:

1. Partly Of My Making
2. Versions Of You
3. Baby, Sleep
4. Placeholder
5. All Of Me
6. Ardour (featuring Pauline Murray)
7. Meeting Up
8. Why Must A Building Burn
9. I Don't Know What I'm Doing
10. The Acid Remark
11. Feelings I'm Supposed To Feel
12. Child Of The Flatlands