Rating: NNNN
Maps is Northampton-based James Chapman, who quietly crafts gorgeous space-pop perfection on his modest 16-track home recorder. We Can Create is far from lo-fi, however if anything, the lack of computer editing seems to have forced Chapman to write decent songs beneath the waves of synths and fuzzed-out washes. The simplicity of his method leads to intimate, immediate results.
Think Spiritualized without bad habits and blues aspirations, or My Bloody Valentine hanging out with Brian Wilson. It’s trippy psychedelic pop free of self indulgence and distracting art pretensions.
