09/08/2025
Duncan Lloyd Unwound
From USA now at MorteMagazine Mexico Since 1993
by Shameless Promotion PR / Reveal Records
MAXIMO PARK maestro DUNCAN LLOYD takes us 'One Step Closer To The Dam' - dive in!
"Quietly reinventing himself as one of Britain’s best singer-songwriters" ~ God Is In The TV
"A sonic vortex that demands you move while absorbing every bit of this infectious music... the innocent youthfulness of XTC with Pixies-esque drive... Instantly addictive" ~ The Spill Magazine
"This is music to sit in front of and stare at for as long as it takes" ~ Tiny Mix Tapes
"Able to showcase the versatility and breadth in his songwriting on the one hand, and maintain a sense of identity and purpose on the other" ~ Clash Magazine
Maximo Park maestro Duncan Lloyd presents 'One Step Closer To The Dam', an uber-fun rock banger about embracing spontaneity and imperfection, with a music video that mirrors the tune's twitchy, energetic vibe through a collage of fast-paced and seemingly random visuals.
This is the latest single showcasing Lloyd's recently-released sixth album 'Unwound'. Previously with Warp Records, this is his first album of new material via Scotland's Reveal Records, who previously reissues of Lloyd’s early solo albums, including the colossal 31-track selected works collection 'Green Grows Devotion' (2022) and 'Fun City' (a trilogy of EPs recorded in 2024).
A critically acclaimed solo artist, Lloyd is the primary musician behind internationally renowned art-rockers Maximo Park and also half of Nano Kino (with Sarah Suri). He is a Mercury Music Prize nominee, has won an NME award, had A-listed singles at BBC Radio 1 and BBC 6 Music (including lyric of the year), and has seen success with worldwide platinum and gold selling records. His songs have featured on eight hit albums with Maximo Park, consistently charting in the Top 10 U.K.
“Similarly to the song the video isn’t perfectly edited or produced. We treated it solely as a visual extension of the music, almost like an anti-video. Mirroring the twitchy energy of the song, it evolves with a spontaneity of sped up clips, cropped lyrics, bumper cars on a loop, animated cans etc, images rotate with playfully hidden messages & meanings," says Duncan Lloyd.
Written during a difficult personal period, 'Unwound' is a 12-track collection that came into being as a form of sonic therapy - a means of coping and catharsis, forging a sound with greater depth and ambition than past releases. Lloyd earlier shared the singles 'Laugh So Loud' and 'Rituals', blending a modern sound with a deeply personal message about habits and healing, voiced through a circular, radio-like musical journey.
With cover artwork derived from Lloyd’s own paintings, this record weaves a unique musical maze of free and varied personal expression, deep and transient, spare, intense and urgent with a balance of grit, beauty and melody. Things got moving when Lloyd set to work with Julie McLarnon (The Vaselines, Lankum, King Creosote, Brigid Mae Power) at Analogue Catalogue Studios in Ireland. Gaining impetus from his trip across the Irish sea, Lloyd returned to Newcastle to complete the rest of the album, each song carefully crafted with more anarchical arrangements than previous outings.
“I needed a break from all things online. Stepping away from it and being closer to nature reignites the imagination, it’s kind of obvious but easy to forget how important it is. It’s an album about experience, throughout you get the sense that dynamics, speed and space were all careful considerations. I am sort of looking under the soil trying to shape the sounds I imagine and if possible create something relatable that has a heart. I didn’t want it to be one produced sound, I wanted it to feel like different rooms, many spaces," says Duncan Lloyd.
"I partly had the book "The Poetics of Space" by Gaston Bachelard in mind, every song is its own room with its own signature. This is probably my heaviest album, in sound and mood. There are songs that lean towards post-punk and with hypnotic rhythms that are darker in tone. I wanted it to feel like the listener can climb inside the sound rather than be on the outside looking in. I don’t want them to be in the cinema. I want them to be in the film or in the room, so it’s almost spooky."
The album features a host of Lloyd’s musician friends, including Maximo Park keyboardist Jemma Freese and drummer Tom English, Andrew Mills (Purploid Zing) and Joe Boyer (Cloud Nothings, Autopolitan, Nicole Yun).
'Unwound' is imbued with a darker mood than Lloyd’s previous works, but with a continuing sense of melancholy at its core. Restrained yet intimate lyrics are housed in inventively evolving structures. The album draws to a close with 'A World Away Now', a song of lost opportunity. Sometimes simply making a connection is enough.
Writing and recording under his own name for the last decade, Lloyd has enjoyed many collaborations, including with Paul Epworth (Bloc Party, Glass Animals, Rihanna), Gil Norton (The Pixies, Echo & The Bunnymen), Nick Launay (Nick Cave, Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Ben Allen (Gnarls Barclay, Deerhunter), Rudimental, Dave Okumu, Batida and legendary Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen.
'Unwound' is out now, available digitally via Bandcamp and digital music platforms, including Apple Music and Spotify, as well as on CD. The first 200 ordered coming with a bonus live four-track recording in 'The Polestar Sessions' EP.
CREDITS
Music & lyrics written by Duncan Lloyd (Reveal Publishing)
Duncan Lloyd - vocals, guitars, bass, piano, synth & drum machine
Tom English - drums, percussion (all tracks except 8, 11 & 12)
Andrew Mills - bass & synth (tracks 4 & 5)
Jemma Freese - backing vocals (track 2)
Joe Boyer - guitar & noise (tracks 2 & 7)
Recorded & Mixed by Duncan Lloyd (except 4 & 5) at The Dagda Rooms
Tracks 4 & 5 recorded & mixed by Julie McLarnon at Analogue Catalogue
Guitars on tracks 2 & 7 recorded by Joe Boyer in Cleveland, Ohio
Produced by Duncan Lloyd
Mastered by Carl Saff at Saff Mastering, Chicago
Released by Reveal Records
Digital catalogue no. REVEAL204 / CD catalogue no. Reveal196CD
Cover art & layout by Duncan Lloyd
Publicity by Shameless Promotion PR
‘UNWOUND’ ALBUM TRACK LIST
01. Gothic Pill
02. I’m On It
03. One Step Closer To The Dam
04. Swim
05. Bright Field
06. Radio Silent
07. Laugh So Loud
08. Together, So To Speak
09. Lightning Bottle
10. Rituals
11. Thin Place
'THE POLESTAR SESSIONS' (Bonus CD)
01 Red Moon (Polestar Session version)
02 Swim (Polestar Session version)
03 Filler In The Bodywork (Polestar Session version)
04 One Step Closer To The Dam (Polestar Session version)
Music / Paintings / Photos by Duncan Lloyd. Including Maximo Park // Nano Kino // & Solo things.
Maximo Park's Duncan Lloyd takes us 'One Step Closer To The Dam', showcasing new 'Unwound' LP
FOR FANS OF: Mount Eerie, The Wrens, XTC, Superchunk, Sparklehorse, Whirr, Elliott Smith, Cass McCombs, Aerial M, Eric Matthews, Sebadoh, Sunny Day Real Estate
FOCUS TRACKS: Rituals, Laugh So Loud, One Step Closer To The Dam
FCC clean (no profanity)
FOR SHARING
'One Step Closer To The Dam' https://youtu.be/EVwYmtEsbZ8
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/track/7wuG2IMLXzpvFmjXBkGh9M
'Unwound' album https://duncanlloyd.bandcamp.com/album/unwound-2025
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/78e7ybnIpMuBlETMWQXc3t
YouTube playlist www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nm6_f5m75bsJnUG2G2W2fzCbPjia8q2Ao
'Rituals' video https://youtu.be/UL5IHUIuJUM
'Laugh So Loud' video https://youtu.be/1L1Rk4bIkyE
Get the single https://tinyurl.com/DuncanLloyd-LaughSoLoud