MAXIMO PARK – unveil video for new single ‘What Equals Love’

MAXIMO PARK - unveil video for new single 'What Equals Love'

Alternative pop experts Maximo Park today unveil the video for their current single ‘What Equals Love’. The track is taken from current album ‘Risk To Exist’ which was released on April 21st via Daylighting.

‘What Equals Love’ melds together off-kilter, jittery grooves with the politically charged lyrics that brought audiences into a frenzy on their recent rapturously received, sold out UK tour. Rich with feeling and an emotional, timely message, the track perfectly encapsulates ‘Risk To Exist’s’ keen intelligence and emotional conviction. A vital record for our times, Maximo Park’s sixth studio album rages against the dire state of world affairs and crumbling political systems with a wit and intelligence that has become the band trademark. These are pop songs that talk about big issues without talking down to the listener; an album where the political is also the personal.

Talking about the newly unveiled video for “What Equals Love’, Maximo Park frontman Paul Smith says: ”We wanted the video to be an extension of the sleeve art that Deborah Bower had created for this record. Her idea was to blend her hand-painted animation with 16mm film of disembodied hands dancing to the music. Influenced by photographers like Man Ray, the images are a surreal, playful match for this exuberant, rhythmic song. A new career as a hand model awaits!”

Director Debbie Bower says: ”For the What Equals Love video a few things got me thinking about how a video might work that just used the gesture and movement of hands. Firstly all these moving arms and hands of the audience that fill my vision when I see a band like Maximo Park, and how these bits of bodies are often silhouetted against the stage lights. On the other side there is the hands of the band – the rhythm, communication and expression that comes through these hands – particularly through the singer. Visually I was feeling inspired by the use of hands in some of the De La Soul videos, and then also in some of the photograms by Laszlo Maholy-Nagy & Man Ray where they worked with hands and overlaying them.“

‘Risk To Exist’ was co-produced by Tom Schick (Wilco, Beck, White Denim) and Maximo Park. Keen for the inspiration of unfamiliar surroundings after writing the album in their native North-East, the band decamped to Wilco’s studio, The Loft in Chicago, in Autumn 2016. Recorded completely live, the recording represents another bold stylistic step for the band after 2014’s Top 10 ‘Too Much Information’. Maximo Park have also enlisted Mimi Parker from acclaimed US band Low for the record, whose voice lends its inimitable warmth to five album tracks, including lead single ‘Risk To Exist’.

With 1,500,000 albums and four UK Top 10 albums under their belt to date, Maximo Park have once again shifted seamlessly into a higher gear. They have expertly crafted an infectious pop album for our time, confronting the crucial issues track by track, one monstrous hook at a time.

Xsnoize Author
Mark Millar is the founder of XS Noize and looks after the daily running of the website as well as hosting interviews for the weekly XS Noize Podcast. Mark's favourite album is Achtung Baby by U2.

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