Nature Always Wins
{{short description|Album by Maxïmo Park}}
{{For|the track by DJ Shadow|Our Pathetic Age}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox album
| name = Nature Always Wins
| type = studio
| artist = Maxïmo Park
| cover = Nature Always Wins.png
| caption =
| alt =
| released = {{start date|2021|02|26|df=yes}}
| recorded =
| studio =
| genre = Indie rock{{cite news |last1=Goggins |first1=Joe |title=Maxïmo Park – Nature Always Wins |url=https://diymag.com/2021/02/25/maximo-park-nature-always-wins-album-review |access-date=21 August 2021 |work=DIY |date=26 February 2021}}
| length = 44:35
| label = Prolifica Inc.
| producer = Ben H. Allen III
| prev_title = Risk to Exist
| prev_year = 2017
| next_title =
| next_year =
}}
Nature Always Wins is the seventh studio album by English indie rock band Maxïmo Park. It was released on 26 February 2021 and reached number two on the UK Albums Chart, putting it level with Our Earthly Pleasures (2007) as the band's highest-charting album. The album was received positively by music critics, who compared it favourably to the band's early albums.
Composition
The album was produced during the COVID-19 pandemic and was Maxïmo Park's first as a trio, following the departure of keyboardist Lukas Wooller. Wooller had moved to Australia with his wife.{{cite news |last1=Lloyd |first1=Michelle |title=Interview: Maximo Park on fatherhood, ageing + being 'uncool' |url=https://www.gigwise.com/features/3396621/interview-maximo-park-on-fatherhood-ageing-being--uncool |access-date=21 August 2021 |publisher=Gigwise |date=1 March 2021}} The album was produced by Atlanta-based producer Ben H. Allen, who collaborated remotely with the Newcastle upon Tyne-based band during the pandemic.
The track "Why Must a Building Burn" attacks the government response to the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017.{{cite news |last1=Jones |first1=Damian |title=Maxïmo Park – 'Nature Always Wins' review: a sizzling return to form |url=https://www.nme.com/reviews/maximo-park-nature-always-wins-review-2883536 |access-date=21 August 2021 |work=NME |date=25 February 2021}} The song also references the band's former merchandiser Nick Alexander, who was killed in the Bataclan concert hall attack. Tracks including "Versions of You", "Ardour" and "Baby, Sleep" were inspired by frontman Paul Smith's new responsibilities as a father. "Ardour", a song about parenting, features Pauline Murray of the punk rock band Penetration. Maxïmo Park had long been friends with Murray, having rehearsed in a studio named Polestar that she owns.{{cite news |title=hmv.com talks to Maxïmo Park's Paul Smith |url=https://www.hmv.com/music/maximo-park-interview-2021-nature-always-wins |access-date=21 August 2021 |publisher=HMV |date=25 February 2021}} Smith said that the name of the album came from a line of the final track "Child of the Flatlands", about nature slowly reclaiming the outskirts of a city. He said that recent natural disasters had taught him that humanity is at the mercy of nature.{{cite web |title=Nature Always Wins |url=https://music.apple.com/gb/album/nature-always-wins/1533637321 |publisher=Apple Music |access-date=21 August 2021}}
Commercial performance
After its release, the album topped the UK Albums Chart in its midweek update, at around 1,500 copies more than Alice Cooper's Detroit Stories, while Architects' For Those That Wish to Exist was at number three.{{cite news |last1=Lavin |first1=Will |title=Maxïmo Park lead Alice Cooper in race for UK Number One album |url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/maximo-park-lead-alice-cooper-in-race-for-uk-number-one-album-2891497 |access-date=21 August 2021 |work=NME |date=1 March 2021}} By the time the chart was published, Architects beat Maxïmo Park to number one by 550 copies. Nature Always Wins was the band's first top-10 entry since Too Much Information in 2014, and joint with Our Earthly Pleasures (2007) as the band's top-charting album.{{cite news |last1=Clarke |first1=Patrick |title=Architects secure UK Number One album, edging out Maximo Park |url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/architects-secure-uk-number-one-album-edging-out-maximo-park-2895091 |access-date=21 August 2021 |work=NME |date=5 March 2021}} Nature Always Wins spent no more weeks in the chart.{{cite web |title=Nature Always Wins |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/search/albums/nature-always-wins/ |publisher=Official Charts Company |access-date=21 August 2021}} The album did top the UK Independent Albums Chart.{{cite web |title=Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50 05 March 2021 – 11 March 2021 |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/independent-albums-chart/20210305/131/ |publisher=Official Charts Company |access-date=22 August 2021}} It also charted for one week on Germany's GfK Entertainment charts, at number 27.{{cite web |title=Maxïmo Park |url=https://www.offiziellecharts.de/suche?artist_search=Max%C3%AFmo%20Park&do_search=do |publisher=GfK Entertainment Charts |access-date=21 August 2021 |language=German}}
Critical reception
{{Album ratings
| rev1 = AllMusic
| rev2 = Clash
| rev3 = DIY
| rev3score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}
| rev4 = The Line of Best Fit
| rev4score = 8/10{{cite news |last1=Beech |first1=Dave |title=North East's premiere indie stalwarts Maximo Park return with a fizzing and popping seventh outing |url=https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/reviews/albums/maximo-park-nature-always-wins-album-review |access-date=21 August 2021 |publisher=The Line of Best Fit |date=23 February 2021}}
| rev5 = NME
| rev6 = No Ripcord
}}
Review aggregator Metacritic gives Nature Always Wins a score of 80/100 based on ten reviews from music critics, all of which were positive.{{cite web |title=Nature Always Wins |url=https://www.metacritic.com/music/nature-always-wins/maximo-park |publisher=Metacritic |access-date=21 August 2021}} It is the band's highest-rated album on Metacritic, ahead of debut A Certain Trigger, which averaged 75/100 from 19 professional reviews in 2005.{{cite web |title=Maxïmo Park |date=13 September 2005 |url=https://www.metacritic.com/person/maximo-park |publisher=Metacritic |access-date=22 August 2021}}
Heather Phares of AllMusic noted that the album moved away from the political themes of the band's three previous albums, instead having philosophical lyrics about relationships, similar to A Certain Trigger.{{cite news|first=Heather|last=Phares |title=Nature Always Wins |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/nature-always-wins-mw0003441348 |access-date=21 August 2021 |publisher=AllMusic}} Damian Jones of NME praised the album, though he found "Why Must a Building Burn" to be "brutal but jarringly upbeat". On No Ripcord, reviewer Juan Egardo Rodríguez considered it to be the band's best album since Quicken the Heart in 2009, and highlighted the track "All of Me", which he compared to "polar opposites" R.E.M. and Europe.{{cite news |title=Quick takes (February 2021) |url=http://www.noripcord.com/features/quick-takes-february-2021 |access-date=21 August 2021 |publisher=No Ripcord}} Robin Murray of Clash called it Maxïmo Park's best album for a decade, and noted how its political content was less overt than the preceding Risk to Exist (2017).{{cite news |last1=Murray |first1=Robin |title=Maxïmo Park – Nature Always Wins |url=https://www.clashmusic.com/reviews/max%C3%AFmo-park-nature-always-wins |access-date=21 August 2021 |work=Clash |date=2 March 2021}}
Track listing
{{Track listing
|headline=Nature Always Wins track listing
|total_length=44:35
|all_writing=Paul Smith, Duncan Lloyd and Thomas English, except where noted
|title1=Partly of My Making
|writer1=
|length1=4:03
|title2=Versions of You
|writer2={{hlist|Smith|Lloyd|English|Ben Allen}}
|length2=4:37
|title3=Baby, Sleep
|writer3=
|length3=3:13
|title4=Placeholder
|writer4=
|length4=2:48
|title5=All of Me
|writer5={{hlist|Smith|Lloyd|English|Allen}}
|length5=3:41
|title6=Ardour
|note6=featuring Pauline Murray
|writer6={{hlist|Smith|Lloyd|English|Jemma Freese}}
|length6=3:17
|title7=Meeting Up
|writer7=
|length7=3:51
|title8=Why Must a Building Burn?
|writer8={{hlist|Smith|Lloyd|English|Paul Rafferty}}
|length8=3:02
|title9=I Don't Know What I'm Doing
|writer9=
|length9=2:50
|title10=The Acid Remark
|writer10=
|length10=3:32
|title11=Feelings I'm Supposed to Feel
|writer11=
|length11=4:25
|title12=Child of the Flatlands
|writer12=
|length12=5:16
}}
Personnel
Maxïmo Park
- Paul Smith – lead vocals, engineering, field recording
- Duncan Lloyd – bass, guitar, piano, synthesizer, background vocals, engineering, field recording
- Tom English – drums, percussion, field recording
Additional personnel
- Ben H. Allen III – production, mixing, bass, guitar, percussion, programming, synthesizer
- Heba Kadry – mastering
- Alex Blamire – engineering
- Annie Leeth – engineering
- Ben Etter – engineering
- Robert Whiteley – engineering
- Tom Etherington – drums, design
- Em Cole – band photo
- Laura Lancaster – cover painting
- John David Lawson – photography, painting photography
Charts
| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+ Chart performance for Nature Always Wins ! scope="col"| Chart (2021) ! scope="col"| Peak |
| {{album chart|Germany4|27|id=471548|artist=Maxïmo Park|album=Nature Always Wins|rowheader=true|access-date=24 August 2021}} |
| {{album chart|Scotland|1|date=20210305|rowheader=true|access-date=24 August 2021}} |
| {{album chart|Switzerland|76|artist=Maxïmo Park|album=Nature Always Wins|rowheader=true|access-date=24 August 2021}} |
| {{album chart|UK2|2|date=20210305|rowheader=true|access-date=24 August 2021}} |
| {{album chart|UKIndependent|1|date=20210305|rowheader=true|access-date=24 August 2021}} |
See also
References
{{reflist}}
{{Maxïmo Park}}