Paul Smith & The Imitations
Contradictions
A classic album in waiting, Contradictions is the brand new record by dynamic pop auteur Paul Smith. It shows a more vulnerable side to the Maxïmo Park ringleader, drawing inspiration from across the miles combining North Easterly charm with the grit of Brooklyn’s NYC coast and shows that no matter where you’re heading or where you’ve been, life itself can be a bit of a paradox.
“Coney Island is a terribly romantic place”, says Smith of one of Contradictions' key components and the inspiration behind lead track ‘Coney Island (4th of July)’. After seeing Robert Frank’s black and white photographs from 4th July 1958, of people asleep on the sand, post-festivities, Smith did some research and came across an article by Maxim Gorky ('Boredom'). “I was quite sceptical about the place. The idea of glamour and squalor sitting alongside each other appealed to me and I tried to create something equally uplifting and wistful.”
Contradictions took four years to write and record, having begun life on the road at the point Paul assembled his ‘Intimations’, Andrew Hodson (drums) from electronic duo Warm Digits and Claire Adams (bass), to help tour his personal debut Margins. With a hectic work and creative schedule taking over, a result of numerous artistic ideas held under his fedora, Paul transferred his attention to recording Frozen By Sight, the recent chamber pop collaboration with Field Music’s Peter Brewis, and Maxïmo Park’s latest LP Too Much Information. Contradictions took the back seat for a while but was never far from Paul’s thoughts. “After the Margins tour I continued writing new material and adding to some of The Intimations’ musical ideas”, he recalls. “With all the other things I was working on, it took longer than expected, but the strength of the songs spurred me on. The recent music I've made is quite stark but this record was an antidote to that: direct and upbeat in its own dreamy way.”
His relentless work ethic unfaltering, Contradictions finds Paul in a more reflective state opposed to the adrenaline-fuelled pop choruses he’s been known for up to now and is a clearer, more hi-fi progression from Margins’ melancholy. Take ‘Before The Perspiration Falls’ – intended to sound ‘like a cross between Nirvana and The Pretenders’, its percussion offers short, sharp, shock treatment, instantly grabbing the attention whilst the motorik, krautrock groove of ‘Reintroducing The Red Kite’ offers up a stark message: “It's hard to write an upbeat song about someone who's retreated from the outside world, but because this is a song of encouragement and rejuvenation, the harsher lyrics take on a different quality”, Paul says. “Eating disorders, hay-fever and meteorology make for unusual pop subject matter, but match the proggy structure of this song.”
Recorded mostly between two homes, Hodson's house on the fringes of the Peak District and the intimacy of Paul’s living room back up in Newcastle (the pair share production credits on Contradictions), the album’s casual and unhurried nature makes for a warm summer sound. Every self-deprecating word is sung through uplifting vocals whilst sparkling guitar melodies radiate like sparks of light glimmering on the water. Ever a slave to his artistic inclination, the grungy ‘People On Sunday’ was influenced by the 1930 silent German film of the same name whilst the "gaunt scaffolding" referred to in ‘Coney Island’ is drawn directly from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Crack-Up – perfectly capturing the carnival of skeletal rollercoasters dominating Coney Island’s skyline. Elsewhere ‘Fill In The Blanks’ touches on the organic folk sound of Bert Jansch and Nic Jones whilst ‘I Should Never Know’ features the breezy C86 vibe of The Go-Betweens or Teenage Fanclub, and Paul’s Teesside take on 50s rock’n’roll star Eddie Cochran rings through ‘All The Things You’d Like To Be’–print a song which features Prefab Sprout’s Wendy Smith, who guests on the record with her beautifully hazy backing vocals.
“Watching Wendy record in my house was a big thrill. It was a real coup to have her sing on the album. I met her when I was an artistic director for The Festival of the North East. She was a total professional - it was an honour to have her on the album!”
Also enlisting the skill set of old pal Peter Brewis who provided ‘Quick’'s sweet piano melody plus Rachel Lancaster of Silver Fox (backing vocals and guitar), the record was laid down entirely by Paul and his Intimations drawing on their collective enthusiasm, vision and sonic expertise to create an album with a clearly defined message, entirely personal to Paul, yet open to interpretation: ”I only ever want to release music that I feel adds something new to the world, however small”, he says, “and I'm confident that Contradictions is an alternative pop record that fulfils my own criteria.”
Tracklist
1. The Deep End
2. Break Me Down
3. Reintroducing the Red Kite
4. Before the Perspiration Falls
5. All the Things You'd Like to Be
6. I Should Never Know
7. The Golden Glint
8. Fill in the Blanks
9. People On Sunday
10. Coney Island (4th of July)
11. The Mezzanine Floor
12. Quick
13. Fluid Identity