Maximo Park - Quicken The Heart

Album Review by Gillian Watson | 22 May 2009
Album title: Quicken The Heart
Artist: Maximo Park
Label: Warp
Release date: 11 May

"What are we doing here if romance isn't dead?" So demanded Paul Smith, Maximo Park's frontman, on the Tyneside quintet's exhilarating debut single Graffiti. As the literary post-punkers release their third LP, Quicken The Heart, it's important to note before we dismiss it outright on grounds of diminishing returns that the 'Park's raw and romantic nature hasn't quite deserted them yet, and while they're still capable of producing melancholy, inventive pop, there's reason enough for us to stick around.

However, although the junior jinx hasn't beset Smith and associates quite yet, unfortunately this record doesn't inspire the romance of its forebears; rather, it's reminiscent of a relationship that's just ticking over. The record can't help but compare unfavourably with the scratchy, breathless heights the group previously reached with material that careened into the room bearing its emotions proudly on its shirtsleeves.

Smith's vocals are as expressive as ever, but their presence is neutered by superproducer Nick Launay's glossy treatments of the musical backdrop; this is most notable on lead single The Kids Are Sick Again, which aims to stir up era-defining state-of-a-nation sentiment but ends up sounding as weary and listless as the youngsters whose slacker state of mind it bemoans. While there are interesting textures to be found on tracks such as Calm, with its quirkily Devo-esque synth peals, the overall flatness of the production fails to seduce. Overall, an album that's less likely to quicken the heart than slow it to an unhealthy pace.

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