Catching our attention with ‘Apply Some Pressure’ back in 2005, indie-pop rockers Maximo Park have continued to produce intellectually sharp and witty hits ever since. Their fifth album ‘Too Much Information’ is another step towards musical evolution, taking a reflective stance and embracing the dark side of electronica.
Maximo Park, like a fine cheese or wine, only become more refined with age. Their dark and romanticised lyrics infused with a nerdy comic-book style persona have always given them a distinct edge. But long gone are the days of hasty guitar riffs and Kaiser Chief style ‘Oooohh’s’, this time we’re greeted with moody synths and poignant lyrical density.
‘Give, Get, Take’ is merely an entrapment for older fans, where the punchy track will undoubtedly become a key festival hit. Yet, the foreboding ‘Brain Cells’ delivers something marvelously superior. You’ll be hard pushed to find a song quite so entrancing and euphorically pleasing in the band's back catalogue.
‘Leave This Island’ is perfectly graceful, where the indulgent lyrics are like an emotionally binding contract between lead singer, Paul Smith, and the listener. That’s not to say the whole album is only filled with melancholy and electronica though, because that’s certainly not the case. Guitar led tracks like ‘Her Name Was Audre’ hone in on the band's quirky feel, whilst compellingly clever lyrics hold down the track with the rest of the album’s sentiment.
Still marveling at the band’s grown up and seamlessly led new direction, it’s clear they’ve endeavored for a higher- class of indie sound. Have they achieved what they set out to do? Certainly. There’s no such thing as too much information on this album, where it’s Smith’s unguided lyrical tendencies that have produced a complexity to Maximo Park that we’ve all been waiting for.
