Crafting a spun-sugar fusion of electronic music, symphonic indie, and dream pop from the confines of his bedroom and a 16-track tape recorder, James Chapman is the one-man band known as Maps. On his debut album, We Can Create, Chapman displays a flair for widescreen arrangements that would normally sound more at home in an orchestra hall than a bedroom, particularly on the soaring "You Don't Know Her Name," which updates the sweetly sleepy vocals and skyward guitars of classic shoegaze with gurgling synths that recall Boards of Canada. Likewise, We Can Create's best moments pair melodies that feel familiar with arrangements that add just the right amount of strangeness: "Liquid Sugar"'s melody makes it feel like a lost track from Loveless, but its delicate strings and synth washes are gentler and more unexpected than yet another homage to My Bloody Valentine's guitar maelstroms. Maps' hybrid of dreamy rock and atmospheric electronic music isn't particularly original; shades of everyone from Boces-era Mercury Rev and Chapterhouse to Dntel, M83, Ulrich Schnauss, and especially Spiritualized pop up on We Can Create (later tracks such as the epic "Lost My Soul" and "Don't Fear" give the impression of coming from a pixilated Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space). However, while Chapman may not take his influences in radical directions, his own spin on these sounds is accessible and appealing. We Can Create will appeal to anyone who enjoys dream pop in any of its past or present incarnations.
© Heather Phares /TiVo