Maximo Park’s Paul Smith has just released a new record so Emily Duff caught up with him to find out more about the release.
Listening to the album, it sounds like an appreciation anthem for the North East. Aside from the assigned theme of sport, is that the main message?
It’s more of an appreciation for small details. The fact that it is in the North East is fairly arbitrary – I probably would have treated the material the same if it had been commissioned by someone outside of the region. Having said that, there are certain aspects that could only come from my own experience as a proud North-Easterner. For example, there’s a lyric that says “My grandfather’s land, which I know nothing about” because he was from South Shields, where the Great North Run finishes. I was initially driven around the route while I made notes, so you could say I was learning about my own historical surroundings during the process of writing the music. I’d like to think that the melodies, the rhythms, and the combination of words would be interesting to anyone, but would hopefully be a bit more important for someone in the region who knows how special the run is, or who recognise the places mentioned.
Is there a purpose for or an experience that led to the album being mostly a cappella?
I’d always wanted to make an a capella record and was inspired by Björk’s Medulla album which, although heavily processed, is sourced solely from voices. When I was approached by Great North Run Culture to write something new inspired by the race, but based on the concept of ‘The Voice’, I thought now’s my chance! I love vocal harmonies and was listening to some of the Gospel, Sacred Harp, and Doo-Wop groups from the early 20th century, as well as avant-garde performers like Meredith Monk, who uses her voice in the most unique way. It still sounds like me, though!
You described it as “The soundtrack to self-isolation”. Was the lockdown and cancellation of gigs an influence for the album’s release?
Yes. I knew I wouldn’t be able to work for the rest of this year, and that I would also be looking after my daughter a lot more due to nursery closing. Because it’s slightly unusual music for me, I also thought people would have a little bit more time to discover it and digest it under current conditions. Plus, there’s not much chance of me being able to do it with the vocal group I recorded with, so now is also a good time to put it out without feeling the pressure to do any gigs.
I know that you had a brief break from Maximo Park in 2010 until 2012, just before you composed this album. Did that time allow you to discover new sounds or techniques that influenced what you composed?
To an extent, but I released and toured my first solo album, ‘Margins’, in 2010, before returning to work on the Maximo Park record during 2011, so I was pretty busy. Perhaps the time between band releases allowed me to imagine some of the other musical avenues that I wanted to explore. I’m always trying to absorb new influences and scratch various creative itches!
You said that you’d “Waited 6 years” to release the album. What was the reason for the lengthy wait?
It was recorded in 2014 and I’ve been waiting for a good opportunity to put it out, but I always seemed to have another album to work on. The beauty of Bandcamp is that you can just get something out there straight away without using a record company or distributor.
You can listen to the album now at paulsmithmusic.bandcamp.com/releases.
