Product Description

Geordie new-wave revivalists Maximo Park's debut album was produced by Paul Epworth, and is record label Warp's first foray into rock-based music. Capturing the band's live energywithough losing its melodic edge, 'A Certain Trigger' is a high-tempo update of the music of The Smiths and XTC. Features the singles 'The Coast Is Always Changing', 'Apply Some Pressure' and 'Graffiti'.

Track Listing

1. Signal And Sign
2. Apply Some Pressure
3. Graffiti
4. Postcard Of A Painting
5. Going Missing
6. I Want You To Stay
7. Limassol
8. The Coast Is Always Changing
9. The Night I Lost My Head
10. Once, A Glimpse
11. Now I'm All Over The Shop
12. Acrobat
13. Kiss You Better

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5975 in Music
• Released on: 2005-05-16
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
This, the debut album from rakish Northern English post-punks Maximo Park, is certainly not the sort of album you expect to find on acclaimed techno label Warp Records – but a sitting spent with A Certain Trigger should neatly demonstrate why they couldn't say no. A hyper-tuneful indie-rock outfit in the vein of XTC, Gang of Four, and particularly modern peers The Futureheads, Maximo turn out the sort of breathless, keyboard-drenched art-pop numbers that neither forsake their Englishness – frontman Paul Smith sings in his native accent, a broad Newcastle accent – nor bow excessively to the past. The immediate hit is "Apply Some Pressure", an instantly catchy mini-masterpiece of tension and relief that appears to be stitched out of the hooks from about five other songs – but hot on its heels come the likes of "Graffiti" and "Going Missing", which, while slow-burning, prove no less addictive in the long haul. And for all the smart assery on display, Maximo Park prove agreeably adept at pulling off the odd tender moment: see the sweet, chiming "The Coast Is Always Changing" – a tale of love, loss and long-distant train journeys. --Louis Pattison

Customer Reviews

Captivating
"Write a review. Well how objective can I be?" To be honest, anyone that can make a Newcastle accent sound as sexy as vocalist Paul Smith does is always at an unfair advantage over me.

I bought this album after Our Earthly Pleasures fairly blasted me into outer space. Once I finally managed to stop listening to Our Velocity on constant loop, I put A Certain Trigger on expecting to be disappointed in a their-first-album-wasn't-very-good-but-they-got-better-after-that style.
I was wrong.

A Certain Trigger does indeed have a raw, first-album quality to it, but in such a way as it evokes a real sense of this band's roots - you can imagine them having played this stuff in a live-music pub with a really bad sound set-up and still blowing everyone's minds with how good the music was. It's reminiscent of The Jam and I wouldn't have been surprised to hear a cover of Pretty Green thrown in the middle of this album - it wouldn't have seemed out of place - except that Maxïmo Park don't need to waste their time on covers (unless you're on about their recent `Radio1 Est. 1967' cover of Like I Love You - move over JT).

Smith's vocal style is what really makes this album special. He's got this way of engaging you with his fervent tone and compelling delivery. I could wax lyrical about every track, and I'd love to go into the text and subtext of the lyrics but I'll settle for a quick rundown of my personal highlights...

The retro keyboard sound along with the self-propelling percussion and captivating vocal talents of our Mr. Smith tender a promising opening to the album in Signal and Sign.

There's a sense of urgency in both the aural delivery and the lyrics of Apply Some Pressure, and a feeling of impending doom: "I hope that I am still alive next year..." A latent eroticism presents itself for a subtle peek around: "Behind your veil, I found the body underneath... I hope that I will live to see you undress... I testify to having guilty feelings." It's a heady mixture.

I Want You To Stay exposes an abstract directness in its imagery with lines like "please hold me now until my breath runs out," "a mesh of tones surrounds your eyes" and "where cranes collect the sky." And then there's the melody: sung in an unimpassioned tone like words calmly spoken, belying but running adjacent to a harmony that seems to represent a desperate internal monologue, with both culminating in a cry of "you know the way I feel."

Acrobat grabs your attention with a heart-beat rhythm and Smith speaking the verses in an almost-whisper until the chorus where, in a despairing outcry he declares, "I am not an acrobat, I cannot perform these tricks for you." There is an intense poetic moment, too, in the second verse where he points out the sky as a metaphor. For what, exactly, he never says, but the observation is honest and takes the focus off the intensity of the rest of the song, which is a nice touch - the diversion is a metaphor in itself.

I hoped Acrobat would be the last track on the album as I was unsure how any song could follow it, but I can understand why the band wouldn't want to end the CD on such a sombre note and the final track, Kiss You Better, takes you out with an upbeat promise that "if you should ever fall, I'll kiss you better." Makes you want to find a kerb to trip over.

If you like The Jam and enjoyed Our Earthly Pleasures, it's a fair bet that you'll love this. If you want music that gives you more than just the sound of something really cool coming out of your speakers, look no further. Put it on in the car, crank it up and try to keep up with the speed of Smith's lyrics. I was glad they were printed on the inside of the cover!

"I'll do graffiti if you'll sing to me in French." Well, mon petit chaton d'amour, it just so happens...

great
teesside's brightest hope, Maximo Park, finally release their debut album `A Certain Trigger', following two smash hit singles and an insurmountable heap of press adoration. From the infectiously catchy `Apply Some Pressure' to the jerky passion of `Graffiti' and the anthemic and immense `Going Missing', `A Certain Trigger' is by turns romantic, edgy, powerful and energetic. Adding to the fray the sing-along bitter rant of `Limassol' and the poetic majesty of 'Acrobat' and this album is, in short, solid gold - packed full of classic indie-pop hits, with Paul Smith's unique voice and emotionally open lyrics at the heart of the album, with the band's often joyous pursuit of pop structures with an angular slant adding the right amount of sustainable interest.

One of the albums that has saved my life!!
Out of a host of bands that came out in 2006, Maximo Park stand out above the others for their live performances but also the power, energy and emotion conveyed in their songs. Despite the fact the songs are clearly 'indie/alternative/rock', they still manage to convey deep feelings of love, loss and anger. I heard 'Apply Some Pressure' and had to go out and buy it. Since then I love 'Going Missing', 'Postcard of a Painting' and 'The Coast is Always Changing' just as much.

This really is an album worth listening to and buying