Maps in their live set up are initially unremarkable. On stage James Chapman is joined by just one other musician (don't believe wikipedia) dressed as if they've been dossing around the house all day rather than about to launch everyone's weekend. It's quite a shock when these two unassuming lads with a small array of synthesisers and a drum machine flick the 'on' switch and start pouring out vast, swirling blasts of dreamy melancholic chords and drum lines that wouldn't be out of place at Digital later on that evening. Watching the crowd lurch from side to side is quite entertaining, the beats demand some sort of dance-like movement but the gloomy melodies and subject matter create a sombre mood. It's like a room full of guys at a prom who couldn't muster the courage to invite the girl they really fancied to go with them and so are shuffling around awkwardly with a grey cloud over their head watching her kiss their best friend. It's only a visual representation though as it's clear everybody is enjoying themselves but finding it hard to make appropriate body movements to the music.
Digital is clearly the right venue for Maps. Standing between the two huge speaker stacks is like being in the eye of a tornado. Multiple synth lines wrap around the listener encircling them in an impenetrable cyclone of sound. The drums are huge station wagons hurtling past in the sonic whirlwind, lifted from their driveways and thrown around with no more effort than a child's toy. Occasionally the squall will lessen but it only makes the devastation temporarily visible and the sobriety returns. Maps should have written the soundtrack to 2012 because it's easy to believe that the whole world is falling down around your ears in a beautifully choreographed CGI sequence. The whole experience makes the listener feel very vulnerable, both physically and emotionally and suddenly it doesn't matter what they're wearing because who are you to judge them?
Maps - I Dream Of Crystal
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