Listen to Maximo Park’s new single ‘Child Of The Flatlands’

The band's first new single in two years

Maxïmo Park have returned with their first new music in over two years – watch the video for ‘Child Of The Flatlands’ below.

The track follows the band’s 2019 in-studio live album, ‘As Long As We Keep Moving,’ and 2018’s stand-alone single ‘North By North East.’

Earlier today, the song was given its radio debut by Lauren Laverne on BBC Radio 6 Music. Watch its new video below.

“‘Child Of The Flatlands’ is an affectionate look at both the psychic and physical edgelands of the town where I grew up, punctuated by snapshots of modern Britain as viewed from a distant hillside,” frontman Paul Smith says of the new track.

“It’s about the inevitability of nature (in all senses of the word) over the order we try to impose on it. The quiet, melancholy choruses lament the loss of community spaces for marginalised people, and the overall pace is meant to evoke a long walk, collaging found sound, strings and insistent piano to create a mildly psychedelic pop odyssey.”

Of the track’s video, Smith added: We commissioned Greg Hodgson to reflect the distorted blur of youth through his VHS lens, and to create a dreamlike vision of Teesside that reflects the episodic nature of the music. Hopefully viewers will recognise something of their own youth, playing in places where nature encroaches upon the urban landscape.”

The single marks the first Maximo Park track the band has released as a trio. Founding members Archis Tiku and Lukas Wooller exited the band in 2014 and 2019, respectively. The former retired from playing music, while the latter emigrated to Australia to pursue composition and teaching.

The band’s last album was 2017’s ‘Risk To Exist.’ In a review of the album, NME noted that while the album had “impeccable bad timing” with its political bent, it was still “a cracking post-debate disco record.”