Maxïmo Park return with first new single in two years "Child Of The Flatlands"

"Child Of The Flatlands" follows on from the group's 2018 standalone single "North By North East", and is accompanied by a trippy visual created by Daniel Avery collaborator Greg Hodgson.

Vocalist Paul Smith says of the new single, ""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. 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."

He adds, "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 band are yet to follow up their 2017 album Risk to Exist.