2005: the year of Maxïmo Park

Maximo Park - A Certain Trigger

2005 was the year my favourite bands became more than a passing hobby, the year I slaved away at a double life reading my books in the daytime and drinking 70p spirit and mixers at dusk, the year I’d learn about new things through the anachronistic MySpace-trail and the year I became obsessed with Maxïmo Park.

Having seen the five-piece for the first time at the tail end of 2004, I think just before they were signed to Warp, I was fascinated. It was a new thing, and they had so much to get excited over. Lyrics that could have been hand-picked from an anthology, starchy guitar lines, swooping synths and right then, the best frontman I’d ever seen.I ordered a ‘The Coast Is Always Changing’ seven-inch and sought out old demos, watching in on their forum and reading fans connecting with each other over their personal tizz. And then A Certain Trigger came out, and I was gone.

I pre-ordered it,  it arrived signed (double ‘woo’ back then), and I listened to it daily. Previous to 2005, I’d gone to gigs on friends’ recommendations so I took this lot as the one I could finally run around and scream about. They were my gateway to Red House Painters, Life Without Buildings and The Go-Betweens amongst so many others, thanks to Paul Smith‘s interviews and multiple-minded generosity. Short, snappy songs arrived fully-formed and lodged themselves in my brain as an imperfect cadence on to the next stage.

With the benefit of four years since this initial obsession, I’ve encountered many people confused at my love of this band – people have found Smith pretentious, A Certain Trigger‘s snappiness short of substance and well, just a lack of originality. But these folks were wrong.

Back then, Maxïmo Park set the pace. They were producer Paul Epworth‘s B-team (Bloc Party crashing into the singles charts way earlier) in 2005 with my album of the year clocking in at under 45 minutes of perfectly-timed build-ups, time and key signature changes, and unique recollections such as the couple who were embarrassed to be together explored through the metaphor of a postcard of a painting in ‘Postcard Of A Painting’. There were ambiguities to obsess over, B-sides to be amazed by (‘Fear Of Falling’, ‘I Want You To Leave’) and live-shows chock-full of scissor-kicks, between-song rambles and such graciousness it felt like every audience member had been personally invited to the show.

And back to the album: take ‘Acrobat’, their spoken-word tear-jerker rarely performed live, a heart-breaking tale of a couple moving apart:

My foot nearly brushes your leg
I cant draw it away/I cant push it forward
It lies stranded
It belongs to someone else

And of course the stonking chimes of ‘Graffiti’, that powerful opening, the smashed-out chords segueing into addictive passages and yet more addictive passages:

There was this feeling of every note counting, as if they were recording on borrowed time, and of a record that became more and more enticing with every listen. Just how clinically the emotions were delivered offered a marked contrast with Smith’s stage persona: an actor, a showman earning his wage. A Certain Trigger is a perfect album designed for this kind of reaction, and I was just party to the cause.

Also in 2005:

I signed up to megafandom while trying to slave over my books, and split whatever time I had in between writing Zeitgeisty MySpace blogs and dancing at Candybox, Collide-a-Scope, Blow Up, Afterskool and Trash.

And let us not forget that Antony and the Johnsons‘ I Am A Bird Now won the Mercury Prize in 2005. It was a good year.

These were my other highlights:

Arcade Fire – Funeral
Broken Social Scene – Broken Social Scene
Kings Of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
Okkervil River – Black Sheep Boy
Sun Kil Moon – Tiny Cities
The Boy Least Likely To – The Best Party Ever
Bloc Party – Silent Alarm
M.I.A. – Arular
The Go-Betweens – Oceans Apart
Art Brut – Bang Bang Rock & Roll
LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem
The National – Alligator
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
The Rakes – Capture/Release

Read more:
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Maximo Park – Acrobat New! Play This Song Now « Acrobat » « copy lyrics to clipboard (IE only) » « printer friendly version » Maximo Park – Acrobat at YouTube Acrobat – Maximo Park Send “Acrobat” Ringtone to your Cell You’ve got to catch an early plane, And its no surprise I’m standing still, Another minute more is all I need, I’ll never have enough, This room gets so cold in the winter, What will it take to heat this house? I just want to feel comfortable, When there’s only the two of us in my bed, My foot nearly brushes your leg, I cant draw it away, I cant push it forward, It lies stranded, It belongs to someone else, We knew each other once, This cant be what you want, But you didn’t have to demolish me, I don’t remember losing sight of your needs I don’t remember losing sight of your needs I am not an acrobat, I cannot perform these tricks for you, Losing all my balance, Falling from a wire made for you The sky is often used as a metaphor, I suppose its because its so big and expansive, When a long stranded cloud sits just above the horizon, Leaving a strip of clear blue beneath it, It becomes the panorama, And you turn your head 360 degrees, And the same line follows you round, If the land is sufficiently flat, Really nothing can be compared to it I dont remember losing sight of your needs I dont remember losing sight of your needs Your needs I am not an acrobat, I cannot perform these tricks for you, Losing all my balance, Falling from a wire made for you I am not an acrobat, I cant perform these tricks for you, Losing all my balance, Falling from a wire made for you Send “Acrobat” Ringtone to your Cell

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