Love music and never tire of hearing new bands. Other likes: walking, cycling, real ale, reading, ge...
Love music and never tire of hearing new bands. Other likes: walking, cycling, real ale, reading, geology, cooking, surfing, camping. TWo kids. Work as a journalist in the UK. Happy!
Member since:14.09.2006
Reviews:38
Members who trust:2
Maps is a lad called James Chapman who works in his bed-room and splices sounds together on a 16-track recorder rather than using a computer. The result is a semi glorious pop album, in the style of bands like Grandaddy and the Postal Service, or maybe Death Cab for Cutie or even Moby — gentle, luscious pop. The positive side is that in its good moments, the luscious, rich sounds make you drift off into a happy place as the electronic sounds wash around inside your head. This happens enough that I could recommend the album. The downside is that in some places the album is a little flat. It does sound like Moby in parts (particularly his last album) but of course Moby didn’t learn in his bedroom, he went to techno raves and learned the power of a groove, which this album lacks. The opening couple of tracks are ok but track three “Elouise” is good, offering sumptuous sounds and while “It will find you”, the single, actually has a hook and a chorus, and having got the catchy bit, he repeats it for ages and ages, and the track ends with the crackle of a vinyl lp going round and round when the needle gets stuck in the final grooves. (When we only had vinyl, that was really, really annoying — older readers must have fallen asleep and left it doing that all night — but youngsters today include it on cds to make them sound quaint and retro). Very like Moby. Track five a bit dreamy (de-spite being called “Glory verse”, it doesn’t have one) but six “Liquid sugar” has a slightly harder beat — almost dance, not quite — and has a dreamy but maybe slightly saccharine chorus. “To the sky” is another tune with a hook while “Back + forth” is one that just washes over your head in pleasantness, as does the next track, “Lost my soul”. “Don’t fear” is also a standout track, with big swooshing synths and a proper dance beat and I didn’t mean to list nearly every track but there, I nearly did. Well recommended but you’ve got to like the gentle pop of the bands named at the start of this review.
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