The plight of a mid-level band inching closer to the limelight has to be a bitch. You try to progress your style, cult fans call you sellouts. You stay the same and you're redundant, one-trick ponies. Indie rock's arrangement prodigies, Maps and Atlases, have, for the most part, avoided these sort of pretentious swipes with their new album, Beware, and be Grateful; a substantially more mellow, songwriting-fueled release that still channels their signature instrumental energy and complexity. TCP caught up with guitar player Erin Elders to chat about how this batch of songs sounds less frantic, the attention they’ve garnered as songwriters and the toughest part of playing the new album live.
Where did the title of the album, Beware, and be Grateful, come from?
The title came sort of randomly. While we were working on the album, we were taking a break from recording. A couple of us would hang out, outside the studio.It came from conversation; someone just said that phrase, "Beware, and be grateful." As we were analyzing the album and trying to figure out how to name it, that came back up as an idea. So, while it was somewhat random, it worked with a lot of themes that were at play.
A more mellow release, it's still instrumentally exciting and musically uplifting. How did you guys strike the balance?
We've been moving along as a band for a while now; to keep making music that is challenging and exciting. We were aware these songs were a little bit more, ya know, "song songs." From the start they were much more focused and started as complete ideas, so, as we were recording, we knew on one hand the songs were going to be less frantic sounding and we tried to balance that out by experimenting with a lot more crazy sounds and effects and different instruments.
Listeners always focus on the band's instrumental prowess. Are the lyrics overlooked?
Um, that's tough. At a lot of our shows people like to sing along and we've always enjoyed that; to be able to have people relate to it on a personal or emotional level. The last thing we want to do is be a band that's just about the musical experimentation. But I think that's something that a lot of people latch onto as a gateway to getting into the songs. I think people get really excited about the technical side of things. I hope [lyrics being overlooked] is not the case, but I think a lot of people like to see how we are doing certain things and how certain parts are played.
You usually tour in short bursts, but this one was longer. Was there any difference in terms of either finding a groove or being worn down?
We used to prefer doing a small cluster of shows, but I think as we have been putting out records and playing those records, we have found it is easier [to be on the road]. If we go a longer tour, we get in a groove. I feel like it's sort of easier to have perspective on what you are doing: to look at where you started and, in six weeks, be like, 'Oh. Yeah. We really shifted this way on a song,' or, 'We naturally gravitated that way.' It's easier to get an understanding of what we are doing. We realized there are reasons to do a long tour.
What was the toughest part of playing the new album live?
One of the big challenges of this record is that the key to the songs is locking into a certain groove together — holding that down is tough. We've always respected Motown players and soul artists and while doing these songs we have to maintain that sort of groove. It totally makes you respect those type of artists — old soul, rhythm sections and such — so much more.
