POPSCREEN: Maxïmo Park - "Our Velocity"

Maxïmo Park are a study in modern musical identity crisis.

Critics adored the Newcastle, England quintet’s 2005 debut, but there was confusion: was this new wave or post pop? Was Maxïmo closer to Franzia or the Futureheads?

The band posed aggressively in publicity photos but oozed modesty in interviews. Ultimately, their pop punk fell between the established polarities for an acceptable post-millennium 80s throwback British band.

Now they’re back, and the video for “Our Velocity,” the single from upcoming LP “Our Earthly Pleasures,” begins dazed and ends dumbfounded. The first shot is upside down.

The camera rights itself before the music starts, but by that time there are already six or seven CGI Maxïmo Parks performing, and the video can’t decide which version of the keyboardist it likes best.

We end up careening between multiple iterations of the same musicians, massed before neon-hued backgrounds.

Part of the band’s personality problem stems from lead singer and lyricist Paul Smith. He’s dreamy enough to be a frontman, but he’s saddled with an unblinking intensity that can’t help but unnerve fawning girls. While his winsome lyrics bring Split Enz to mind, his clenched, discomfiting stage presence recalls Joy Division’s Ian Curtis.

Whether or not you want to move closer, you’re drawn in—as promised, Maxïmo burns through hooks at their own light-speed velocity. The verses are obliquely scientific but the closing mantra gets personal: “Love is a lie, which means I’ve been lied to / Love is a lie, which means I’ve been lying too,” snarls Smith. He’s a victim and a criminal, which makes sense: these guys are everything at once. “Our Velocity” proves they don’t need to be anything else.

—Jake G. Cohen