Alternative pop experts Maximo Park today announce UK tour dates for Spring this year. Starting at Birmingham O2 Institute 1 on May 5th, the tour takes in London’s Royal Festival Hall on May 12th before ending on May 19th at Manchester Albert Hall. Tickets go on sale at 09.00 on Friday 25th January from www.maximopark.com. Full list of tour dates listed below:
May 2017
5th – Birmingham – O2 Institute 1
The tour follows the April 21st release of blistering new album ‘Risk To Exist’. Bringing together their trademark hook-laden melodies and sense of urgency with off-kilter rock, soulful grooves and pop sensibilities, ‘Risk To Exist’ is a vital record for our times, raging against the dire state of world affairs in 2016 and crumbling political systems.
Frontman Paul Smith says: ‘The album is, ultimately, about empathy. Some songs are simple messages of solidarity and others are fuelled by anger at the elitist, established order of British society. There’s a questioning of power throughout and a feeling that there must be a different way of structuring our society in order to alleviate inequality. Musically, the songs reflect more soulful and groove-based influences, allowing more space in the arrangements than ever before. The central idea is to align great pop melodies with songs that reflect the state of the nation.”
These are pop songs that talk about big issues without talking down to the listener; an album where the political is also the personal.
‘Risk To Exist’ (released April 21st on Daylighting) 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.