Outside Notion (2021 Remaster) Duncan Lloyd

• 1Historic Elements (2021 Remaster)03:48
• 25.A.M Eyes (2021 Remaster)03:55
• 3Planetarium (2021 Remaster)04:27
• 4Young Dreams (2021 Remaster)06:48
• 5Outside Notion (2021 Remaster)03:43
• 6Journey B (2021 Remaster)04:08
• 7Til the Fear Breaks (2021 Remaster)04:01
• 8Guess and Wonder (2021 Remaster)03:02
• 9First, Monday (2021 Remaster)04:28
• Total Runtime38:20

Info for Outside Notion (2021 Remaster)

As a kid growing up in the noughties, I was 16 when Maximo Park formed back in 2005, of course I was a fan. They were so good and fresh. I think I Graffiti was on permanent repeat on my original Ipod Classic. Remember those? Those glory days before spotify!

So, you can imagine my excitement when I heard the news that Maximo Park guitarist, Duncan Lloyd, has released another solo album. ‘Outside Notion’ is a beautiful piece of art. It is a definite move away from the indie rock sound that Duncan is known for; it is a more mature sound. Orchestral movements are included giving the album a bigger soundscape.

The opening track ‘Historic Elements’ begins with distorted strings and a dream like guitar that really pulls you into a transient, lucid dream state. The vocals are light and floaty which only add to this dream like feeling.

The album floats on and arrives at ‘Young Dreams’. At this point, we’re half way through the album and what song. It evokes feelings of summer, I can imagine standing at a festival on a hot summers evening with this song floating over the crowd. The song feels almost psychedelic, with its ambient soundscapes and vocal harmonies although it ends in almost frenzy with some truly masterful guitar playing.

The juxtaposition between ‘Young Dreams’ and the next track, the title track of the album, is staggering. ‘Outside Notion’ is no longer riding the wave of that dream, it has woken up, and the song has an urgency about it. It is quick and punchy, which is exactly the right change of pace that the listener needs. Journey B is another lovely surprise, having an almost folk feel with long trailing strings over an acoustic guitar. It does exactly what it says on the tin, Journey B is a journey to another place, musical it is the bridge to the remaining three songs of the album.

The final three songs are somewhat rockier than the rest of the album. With a very sixties feel, think The Doors or The Byrds, it feels like we have a natural conclusion. The drums are definitely more present on these final tracks and although we haven’t lost the strings, they are still very much included; they are not the centre piece as they were before.

Outside Notion is an album that really takes you on a journey whilst you’re listening to it. It has a very clear beginning, middle and end and the songs wouldn’t work so well if they weren’t in that particular order. It is an album to listen to in its entirety and I thoroughly enjoyed the wholly immersive experience listening to it.

"Temptation is always to wrap up a review of a great record with something clever or profound, but with Outside Notion Duncan Lloyd has created something that, every time I think I will listen to it one more time just to tweak the writing, I end up so immersed in previously unheard nuances as unnoticed musical avenues continue to open up, that it is perhaps best just to leave it and let others discover it for themselves." (Steve Spithray, godisinthetvzine.co.uk)

Duncan Lloyd

Duncan Lloyd
Known as the architect of Maximo Park's music, guitarist/singer/songwriter Duncan Lloyd has several other musical projects and is also an exhibiting painter and photographer. Lloyd learned guitar in his teens while growing up in Derby, and played with a number of groups and recorded songs on his own throughout his school years. After moving to Newcastle to paint, he formed Maximo Park with bassist Archis Tiku, keyboardist Lukas Wooller, and drummer Tom English; though Tiku and Lloyd had been sharing vocal duties, they added frontman Paul Smith so that they could concentrate on songwriting. As Maximo Park's success grew -- their debut album, A Certain Trigger, was nominated for the Mercury Prize -- Lloyd branched out musically. Along with his work as a member of Derby's prolific improvisational outfit Res Band, he released his first solo album, Seeing Double, on Warp Records in 2008. Two years later, he began his experimental project Decade in Exile, whose releases included the Trail Places EP as well as a self-titled EP, both from 2013, and the 2014 full-length Transit Pulse. In 2015, Lloyd teamed up with vocalist Sarah Suri to form Nano Kino, a project inspired by their mutual love of the Cocteau Twins and Life Without Buildings. Their releases included the singles "Bike Ride" and "Never Seemed to Happen" and the Surfing on the Void EP. Lloyd's second album, I O U O M E, which featured "Heart in Delay," a collaboration with Eternal Summers' Nicole Yun, arrived in May 2017. (Heather Phares, AMG)

This album contains no booklet.