Brooklyn-based indie rock outfit Maxband is the creative partnership of Max Savage (Parquet Courts), Patrick Smith (A Beacon School), Tim Nelson, and Eric Read. The quartet has arrived with a new track called “Good Time,” which is lifted off their Top Of The Stairs EP.
On their brand new 5-track EP, Savage and Smith share vocal duties with Savage at the helm on post-punk tracks “Unsaid” and “Rural North” while Smith takes the lead on indie pop-leaning songs “Cut It Loose,” “Good Time,” and “A Case Of Dust.” With “Good Time,” the band performs in the sonic framework of intricate post-punk meets dream-pop rhythms while echoing the aesthetics of musical peers DIIV and Deeper. “Good Time” interchanges between a sensory experience and an emotional immersion.
Smooth vocals juxtaposed with slicing guitars and snappy drums capture the sonic backdrop here. “Good Time” is a strong showcase of interweaving angular guitar and whirling bass patterns resulting in this deep three-plus minute daydream. On the lyrical front, the song faces those defining moments of one’s own character by taking control of your life. It’s this reminder that the path is a series of choices and chances and there’s no avoiding the sharp turns and detours along the way.
Catching up with the band over email, they exclusively shared with EARMILK, “‘Good Time’ was originally a sort of more energetic, upbeat take on a Replacements kind of song that I brought to the band fully-formed. When we played a demo for Doug [Schadt, producer], he encouraged us to revisit it as a group so that it would sound like a more distinct combination of the four of us. I was initially hesitant, as I was pretty attached to what I had written, but that rewriting process allowed us to craft something that felt more emblematic of who we are as a musical entity."
Lyrically, the song deals with the difficulty of patience, both in terms of waiting for things to happen and the frustration that arises when they don’t. The line about the ‘top of the stairs’ (that we ultimately used as the title of the EP) is about feeling like you’re at the end of history in a way; that everything has led to this final moment and you’re at the top of the stairs looking down on everything that came before with perfect clarity. Ultimately you realize this is an illusion and that you’re always somewhere along a path, rather than at its end. We really have no choice but to keep moving.”
Top Of The Stairs EP was produced by Doug Schadt (Maggie Rogers, Ashe, Wet) and is available now. The group first debuted in 2018 with the release of their LP Perfect Strangers.
