A Certain Trigger

by

Maxïmo Park

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Maximo Park is going places. No way around that. They're songs are infectious, witty, energetic and heartfelt and they lack the overly-pretentious lyrics of some of their contemporaries. Lead singer Paul Smith's heavy accent lends a more down-to-earth quality to the songs and his charisma drives the record. The band is even more wonderful live, performing with as much bouncy enthusiasm and talent as you would expect upon hearing the record. This is my favorite CD of 2005 and I can only hope Missing Songs lives up to Maximo Park's fantastic debut.

Post-punk is one of the Sounds Of The Moment, with bands like Bloc Party and the Kaiser Chefs hitting the music headlines. Now Maximo Park offers their brand of high-octane post-punk, which accomplishes exactly what it apparently is meant to do: Be dancey.

It starts off on a rather slow note with "Signal and Sign." It isn't a bad song, but it doesn't really hook you in and make you want to hear whatever comes next. The second song "Apply Some Pressure" manages what the first does not -- killer beats, spasmodic riffs, and some sinuous keyboard that gives it a new wave flavour.

That pattern follows throughout the album, relying on a rough rock mentality tempered with lots of keyboard. Sometimes they err on the side of gritty bass, and sometimes the songs rest on a bed of fuzzy electronics and bouncy guitars. But they all have two things in common: Dancey rhythms, and a new wave edge.

Maximo Park get points for lack of pretension -- they never pretend that their music is anything but fun, dancey music. No arty edges, no bizarre flourishes. It makes their angular rock songs seem more down-to-earth, since they aren't trying to impress anyone.

It does, however, take awhile to separate the songs -- they could have used a bit more variety of sound, which only comes in with the eerie blips and fuzz guitar of "Acrobat." And the riffs tend to fall into a repeating pattern. That said, these guys have enormous energy and kinetic verve, and the new-wave edges bring their buzzing and chiming guitars to life.

And it helps that the singer can actually sing. He's got a pleasantly everyday voice, also without any pretensions of angst or ennui, that can nevertheless stand above the thick dancepunk noise: "If you're gonna talk about the things I need/then you're gonna have to find out what they are!"

While dancepunk may be a trend, Maximo Park gets props for being a pretty good example of the genre. Fun, dancey and unpretentious, these guys may well outlive the trend.