I love historical documents and the GPS system, so I thought the Northampton, UK group called Maps might be up my alley. Known for their exquisite layering and wall of sound building via distortion and dreamy shoegaze, I was curious to see if the tangled noise of songs like “It Will Find You” would resonate through a club.
The vibrations emitted from the heavy bass and sharp keys sliced through my skirt for the entirety of the show. I would gauge how hard the band was playing by how much my skirt bounced against my knees – one-two-three-four in a two-second interval, twenty in a minute loop. Songs like “You Don’t Know Her Name” combined remnants of the second Britpop wave movement like Boards of Canada and Slowdive with an electronica approach to dance pop music a la DJ Shadow, woozy backdrop muddles coupled with lead singer James’ soft but steady vocals. Just as I was starting to enjoy this style, “It Will Find You” came to grab me for a go on the dance floor, industrial blips, sounding like they came from a power plant or warehouse facility or other actual industrial site, laid on top of the twiddles and tweaks of keys. Build-up from start to finish took the whole whole crowd on a magic carpet ride.
Heading out of Bottom Of The Hill, I couldn’t help but feel more people should have been in attendance at this show. I have a feeling the next time Maps plays, people will be watching with a more intent eye while those in attendance at Bottom’s gig would bask in the discovery of something spectacular early on.
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