Maxïmo Park – Stream of Life

Apparently “indie sleaze” is one of 2024’s trends, with the nostalgia cycle turning back its inevitable 20 years to the mid-2000s and an era of skinny-jeaned geezer waifs and dishevelled manic pixie dream girls.

Like fellow North East band The Futureheads, Maxïmo Park were there the first time around but nodded towards more substantial art-rock – something that set them apart from the notorious “landfill indie” of the era. Especially as frontman Paul Smith’s introspective staccato Geordie vocals were a welcome antidote to the nasal laddish drawl of inferior peers.

It’s perhaps why old hits like Apply Some Pressure and Our Velocity stand up well today – and their new album, Stream of Life, sounds fresh rather than simply a retread of former glories.

Drawing inspiration from Ukrainian-Brazilian writer Clarice Lispector for its title, it’s a record that maintains a slightly jaded version of their old jumpy energy while ruminating on midlife themes of regret and responsibility.

Opener Your Own Worst Enemy sounds unmistakably Maxïmo Park, while nods to pre-superstardom R.E.M. give the sense of weary experience. Favourite Songs is more upbeat, though lyrics about troubles “fading away” with the right person hint at overcoming demons.

The quirky Dormant Till Explosion features post-punk pioneer Vanessa Briscoe Hay of Pylon, and feels like the band’s attempt to explore her oeuvre and the Riot Grrrl sound she partly inspired. Bizarrely it works.

A change in mood then comes with The End Can Be as Good as the Start; It’s a mildly beautiful love song about finding oneself in another, albeit one thinly disguised by Tom English’s thumping drums and Duncan Lloyd’s jangly guitar work.

The melancholic Armchair View nods towards the darker, regretful side of the album’s themes before the more typical lead single Quiz Show Clue tees up title track Stream of Life.

It broadens matters into a wider theme of societal disillusionment, one furthered on closing track No Such Thing as Society. The title is a barbed reference to Margaret Thatcher’s infamous maxim – and its downbeat reflections on the state of things will resonate with 2000s indie kids who have been disappointed with the world ever since.

It’s the more personal songs that are the strongest though. The dreamy Doppelgänger Eyes, lovelorn I Knew You’d Say That and the whirling The Path I Chose are all affecting and hugely listenable.

In a cultural landscape in which nostalgia often seems the only currency, with Stream of Life Maxïmo Park prove that combining past longings with personal growth is far more powerful, both musically and lyrically.

Mark Worgan
Image: Moja

Stream of Life is released on 27^th September 2024. For further information or to order the album visit Maxïmo Park’s website here.

Watch the video for the single Quiz Show Clue here: