If anything the overall feel of the album is that the sensitivity factor has been played up big this time. Many songs recount incidents of relationships that ignite and fall apart and are told with such emotion and intelligence that they will surely burrow themselves into your consciousness. One such tune is “Books from Boxes” (3), that is clearly inspired by Johnny Marr’s guitar work, but it’s the lyrics again that steal the spotlight. The lyrics present Mr. Smith as a romantic growing ever more cynical; “Well this is something new/ but it turns out it was borrowed too/ Why does every let down have to be so thin? / Rain explodes at the moment that the cab door closed/ I feel the weight upon your kiss ambiguous”. You can feel the frustration and disappointment as the chords gently fade and he decides “just to write, after all.”
Not to worry though full on fun tunes are still here, most notably with the keyboard driven flagship single “Our Velocity” (2) that explodes with the urge to run and jump around as much as possible at breakneck speeds as you mull over the concept of love; “love is a lie, which means I’ve been lied to, which means I’ve been lying too.” The neurotic theme of
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MP3 – Books from Boxes – Maximo Park
MP3 – A Fortnight’s Time – Maximo Park
MP3 – Our Velocity – Maximo Park
