Warp Records
2005
A Certain Trigger
About This Album
While Maxïmo Park might be relative latecomers to the post-punk/new wave revival, their debut album, A Certain Trigger, stakes out their own distinctive territory within that sound. Sonically speaking, the Newcastle band's mix of wiry guitars, sharply punctuated rhythms, and atmospheric keyboards is nothing new, even when compared to their fellow revivalists. What makes Maxïmo Park, and A Certain Trigger, special is the way the band captures the joys and frustrations of being young and cooped up in a small town -- they're bittersweet, angry, thoughtful, and funny, often within the course of the same song. Singer/lyricist Paul Smith's witty, occasionally poignant observations, coupled with his strong (and endearing) Geordie accent, add to the band's earnest, angry-young-man appeal. Indeed, Maxïmo Park are so good at writing anthems for love-lorn underdogs that they almost feel more akin, spiritually at least, to Pulp than to some of their contemporaries. Similarly, some of Smith's more quotable lyrics, such as "Postcard of a Painting"'s "I wrote my feelings down in a rush/I didn't even check the spelling," recall those other Smiths, and the song's jaunty melancholy is more than a little reminiscent of "This Charming Man.
Track List (try tracks 2,3,4,5,8 and 12)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.

 
report abuse