Maximo Park - 'The End Can Be As Good As The Start'
Maximo Park's new single combines new and old influences with themes of maintaining love and the human subconscious which presents them at their very best.
Maximo Park have released a new single entitled ‘The End Can Be As Good As The Start’ from their upcoming LP ‘Stream Of Life’. Maximo Park are a band that seem to keep going from strength to strength, with their last album charting at No.2 in the UK, and if this single is anything to go by, it may be a repeat success.
This new single see’s Maximo Park still at the top of their game. It’s a new-wave driven track powered by drums that sound like they were invented out of a Talking Heads record with a driven bassline and echoing snare to match. The lyrics as ever with a Maximo Park record are hard hitting and thought provoking:
“In the gallery
You said marry me
Forget the patriarchy
And I said hey it’s not romantic
Except for death do us part”
This sets the tone for the rest of the track. Frontman Paul Smith said that “It’s an exuberant New Wave-y alt-pop-rocker about faith, solidarity and sustaining relationships in the face of society’s structural hurdles”. Maximo Park have managed to keep their upbeat indie rock feel with a fresh new power pop sound. There’s a cleverness within the song with Paul manoeuvring his way through themes of a damned society, and maintaining love, to round off the track with changing the title line of the song to “The end is not as good as the start”.
Like Maximo Park’s last record, the band have once again teamed up with Grammy award-winning producer Ben Allen and this time around producer Burke Reid who between them have worked with the likes of Gnarls Barkley, Courtney Barnett and Sports Team. The album title ‘Stream Of Life’ is inspired by a short story from writer Clarice Lispector, and the way it reflects on the psychology of the human subconscious. The song made its debut on Lauren Laverne’s BBC Radio 6 show and is sure to be a fan favourite.
The band have announced a tour to support the upcoming album that begins in Dublin on November 8th, with some dates such as Bristol and two nights at London Islington having already sold out. This new single will see a very pleased loyal fanbase that Maximo Park have accumulated over the years.
Words by Doug Dewdney
