Music

Since the early days of proto-synthesisers, electronic music has been the preserve of bedroom boffins. From its inception as part of the classically informed musique concrete movement to its adoption by a generation of jazz musicians (Herbie Hancock, Gary Davis), who saw the potential of these strange new noiseboxes, to the influential recordings of übernerds Kraftwerk, it was in studious hands. By the late ’90s, however, it was the sonic equivalent of a hot hatch, working as a penis extension for the terminally unfunky, which may go some way to explaining the resurgence of guitar bands.

Now, though, synths are just part of the cultural fabric to be used and abused in any which way. Take Maps, for example. Maps make electronic shoegaze, far more beholden to the swooning feedback soundscapes of My Bloody Valentine than any of today’s haircut-electro practitioners. It doesn’t have the sheeny pop edge of other prog-gazing types such as Secret Machines, but while there’s not much to whistle there’s a lazily bewitching quality to everything here, particularly breakthrough opus ‘Start Something’. And in a crazy mixed-up world of blistering April days and bank holiday afternoon drunks, recent single ‘It Will Find You’ deserved to be a hit single. Maps’ music is unashamedly emotional, and unhurried. It doesn’t feel the pressure to be futuristic, or danceable, and this album is all the more exciting as a result.