aaamusic | On 28, Mar 2012

Their upcoming live dates in May sold out just minutes after they were announced, and now, Maximo Park have announced that are releasing their long awaited fourth album “The National Health” on June 11th 2012.

Three years on from their critically acclaimed album “Quicken the Heart”, with over 2 million copies of their albums sold and even an arena tour of Europe now under their collective belt, “The National Health” sees the band back in riproaring form; more vital, forceful and potent than ever. Recorded with the legendary Gil Norton (who has worked with everyone from The Pixies to Foo Fighters and Patti Smith) in Rockfield, Wales and Moles, Bath, it is at once ferocious and rousing, and a powerful antidote to the anodyne rock and manufactured pop that all too often passes for our music scene these days.

“We’re in a global recession and everyone is being bombarded with bouncy, happy music,” explains frontman Paul Smith. “The nation is out of control and the record is about taking back control, and being a force for change in your own life. It can’t speak for everybody but it has its eyes and ears all around us…that’s always been a Maximo Park thing: look at yourself. See how you relate to yourself and hopefully someone else will have something in common with it. Our songs are built on empathy. I would hope it’s as vital a music as people would want to hear.”

This attitude is epitomized on the title track, which you can listen to over at the band’s website maximopark.com and below too:

TRACKLISTING:

1. When I Was Wild
2. The National Health
3. Hips and Lips
4. The Undercurrents
5. Write This Down
6. Reluctant Love
7. Until the Earth Would Open
8. Banlieue
9. This Is What Becomes of the Broken Hearted
10. Wolf Among Men
11. Take Me Home
12. Unfamiliar Places
13. Waves of Fear