The teaser track from Maps & Atlases‘ forthcoming second album Beware and Be Grateful finds the band’s tight kinetic rhythms matched to catchy, asymmetrical pop.
Short skids of sound are teased and squeaked out against a shuffling percussion. Pliant bass notes create a bob-along rhythm for the dusty vocals to sit lightly -sometimes gruffly- upon. Guitars create intricate crystaline patterns as the verse grows gently, like an ice-fern on a freezing pane. The chorus flourishes away warmly, with tight notes crackling and bubbling along in the background. — © Neil_Mach Feb 2012 —
“The initial inspiration to write the song ‘Winter’ came on a freezing cold evening during the Chicago winter,” says frontman Dave Davison. “The song contrasts memory and the perspective of winter as a season of possibility and creativity with the bleak, stillness of winter nights in the Midwest.”
Check out the track for yourself here: http://soundcloud.com/fatcatrecords/03-winter
The album is out on the 16th April on FatCat.