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Let’s be clear here: Our Earthly Pleasure is the leanest, sleekest, dare we say, popiest bit of material these Brits ever hung their pork pie hats on. But polish isn’t inherently bad — in fact, the Park’s C4-strapped-to-a-metronome post-punk sounds even better in the sharper, grander focus provided by Foos and Pixies knob-twiddler Gil Norton. In contrast, their last outing, A Certain Trigger, bore the tight, boxy qualities of many a Paul “Phones” Epworth affair, leaving already-tense lead-singer Paul Smith and company wound a bit too tight. Here, the tension is paired with plenty of release on coy cool-downs like the spacious ‘Nosebleed’, and even-handed Marr-minded guitar workouts like ‘Books From Boxes’. But the tasteful playing of Duncan Lloyd never outshines Smith’s jittery, anxious bleet — his words sputter and lurch and stick like the percussive rat-tat-tat of a tommygun. Tempered but still ill-tempted, smart but still smart-assed, Our Earthly Pleasure is Maximo at its finest.
