Maxïmo Park explore the Stream of Life with new album.

L-R: Tom English, Paul Smith, Duncan Lloyd. Image: Press.

This autumn Maxïmo Park are touring the UK and Europe to promote their new record Stream of Life. Formed in 2000 by Duncan Lloyd, Tom English, Archis Tiku and Lukas Wooller, the band was joined a few years later by lead singer Paul Smith, who spoke to us about writing and recording their eighth studio album.

Nearly twenty years on from their Mercury-nominated debut A Certain Trigger, Maxïmo Park haven’t strayed far from their original ethos. “We've always done things using independent labels, and we’ve existed in a little bubble really. Because we were relatively successful for a band on an independent label, we were never part of the big machine. We started off as a DIY band putting out our own records on seven-inch, and finding money from friends to do that, designing our own posters and putting them up around town. Those foundations are how we go about our business today.”

Their creative dynamic has also changed little, although they are now a trio following the departure of Tiku and Wooller five years ago. When he took over as frontman in 2003, Smith immediately brought a new energy to the band and he still sees this as his key contribution. “I am the enthusiast: my talent in life, perhaps, is to push things over the line. I believe in the things that we have done; I’m sort of like a preacher. When I’m on stage, my role is to show people what each song is about: with my body, with the way that I sing, with the emotions that I've got to try and tap into every single time I sing.”

“I’m a man in the middle of my life, and you reflect on where you are, where you could be, where you may end up. Trying to recognize who you are is difficult at times, because you have a perception of yourself which other people don’t have, and their perception is also part of what shapes you in the end”

— Smith

Smith credits guitarist Lloyd with being the creative heart of Maxïmo Park. “He's very quiet about it, but I think he has this steely determination to get his songs out into the world. Duncan's got this well of melodies, riffs and ideas that has kept us relevant in terms of the quality of the songs that we write.” The ship is steadied by English, whom Smith describes as the band pragmatist. “I would say he's the voice of reason when me and Duncan have our heads in the clouds. He'll be taking decisive action.” As the drummer, English is more involved in arranging than writing the songs. “The songs exist in their raw form, and then Tom will come in and some of the beats and timing that he'll put into it will change the feel of a song entirely.”

Although they have an established pattern for songwriting – “Duncan sends me music, and I'll send him back me singing a melody and some lyrics, and then we'll open it up to Tom” – they tried a different approach on the track “Doppelgänger Eyes”. Asked by Lloyd to come up with the lyrics first, Smith presented him with “a full-page worth of, not stream-of-consciousness exactly, but seeing where one idea would lead, just rhymes, different things” which Lloyd set to music. “When I first heard it, I really loved the acoustics on the demo, because it was driving and also there was a softer edge to it, which reminded me of stuff like the Lemonheads: really poppy but there’s a melancholy undertow to it.” Smith then refined the lyrics to shape them into a song that draws together several of the themes running through Stream of Life. “I'm a man in the middle of my life, and you reflect on where you are, where you could be, where you may end up. Trying to recognize who you are is difficult at times, because you have a perception of yourself which other people don't have, and their perception is also part of what shapes you in the end. Sometimes we are masquerading as something else in order to just get through the day. I suppose that was one reason why we used the guy with the mirrors all over him as the album sleeve: it reflected the themes of how we get through life, and some of the concessions we have to make in order for polite society to work, in order for your relationships to work.”

While a few songs were composed over a year ago and one (“No Such Thing as a Society”) was originally intended to appear on their last album, most were written in what Lloyd has described as “a bit of a splurge” as the deadline for recording came ever closer. They wanted Stream of Life to be produced by Ben H. Allen, who had worked with them remotely on 2021’s Nature Always Wins during lockdown. This time they were to join him in person in Atlanta but, aware that they would have limited studio time there, they decided to call on Australian producer Burke Reid to help them get started. “We had a really good time recording the first two songs, which were ‘I Don’t Know What I’m Doing’ and ‘Favourite Songs’. We had them already in the bag before we went to Atlanta, which took the pressure off us in a way.” With a clear sense of the direction the record would take, they were able to maximize their time with Allen. “We just don't have the resources to spend months and months in a recording studio. Obviously, you could do so much of that these days in your own house – I'm a big GarageBand fan, and all the vocals on our last record were recorded on my computer on GarageBand; you can piece things together, and a lot of bands do it like that – but we love the experience of being in the studio and finding those little creative moments.”

In their initial conversations with Allen, they bought into his vision of making an in-your-face rock record but the final album has turned out more musically diverse than that, although unified by what Smith describes as a “lean, economical, back to basics sound that runs through the record”. “Armchair View” is a more acoustic, minimalist track, while the album opener “Your Own Worst Enemy” and “Dormant ’Til Explosion”, which features Pylon vocalist Vanessa Briscoe Hay, reference Maxïmo Park’s American post-punk influences. “I hope people will be dancing around like mad to ‘Dormant ’Til Explosion’”, says Smith.

For live performances, Maxïmo Park are joined by Jemma Freese (keyboards) and Andrew Lowther (bass) but, as they couldn’t be in Atlanta, Allen recorded their parts. “He would go into a little room in the studio where he had his computer and stuff, he would learn the bass lines in a morning, and would come in just before lunch and say, ‘Let's do a few takes.’ So it's almost like a new band each time we make a record at the moment, with it just being the three of us from the original lineup, and to us it's an opportunity to do things differently, find a different sound, and be a slightly different band with each record. We're like the bubble in a spirit level – we're staying in our zone but gently pushing at the edges all the time, trying to do something new with every record. It keeps things interesting for everybody, I think: for people who are listening to it, to us who are making it.”

Stream of Life is released on 27th September.

Author: Rachel Goodyear