Staff Reviews

Maps & Atlases - Beware and be Grateful

Review by Robert Cooke

There’s undoubtedly some clever stuff going on under Beware and be Grateful's surface, but when it makes you feel nothing you have to wonder, what’s the point?»

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maps and atlases return to release their sophomore album 'beware and be grateful' via fatcat. 'beware and be grateful' was recorded last year in a series of week-long sessions at omaha's arc studios with producer jason cupp (the elected, nurses, good old war). it continues their steady migration into pop territory. the non-proscriptive approach informs 'beware and be grateful', the free experimentation resulting in mellifluous harmonies, percolating rhythms and even - gasp - a full-on guitar solo on album centerpiece 'silver self'. songs like 'remote and dark years' and 'fever' are gloriously fluid, but the instinct for tight kinetic rhythms never obstuficates the impulse toward catchy, asymmetrical pop. self-assured and astonishingly ambitious, beware and be grateful marks maps and atlases' most fully realized collection to date.
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