Downtempo electronic folk creator - Maps - has been nominated to compete for the prestigious Mercury Music Prize for We Can Create. The album was released on June 19th and has been so successful that James Chapman, aka Maps, may take home the Mercury Prize when the award show is broadcast live on BBC TV on 4 September.
Maps Tour UK and US
Chapman is currently on tour in the UK, playing his special blend of “spaced-out electronica for mood-enhanced stargazers” (Blender Mag) at the Leeds Festival and Reading Music Festival, but he has just announced that he will cross the pond and tour the US for the first time! The US tour will begin September 22nd with a headlining performance at KEXP’s “John In The Morning At Night” benefit show in Seattle. That show will also feature support from Vampire Weekend and Jamie T. While in the US, Chapman will be assisted by other fantastic musicians who will help him recreate the layers of electronica that comprise the album. Believe it or not, Chapman did not use a computer to make this music, it’s all him playing different instruments and recording on a “battered 16-track recorder”! Therefore, he will be joined on stage by Philip Thurlby (Synths, Backing Vocals, Percussion), Matthew Roberts (Synths, Guitar, Backing Vocals), Benjamin Gordelier (Drums) and Andrew Lowther (Bass Guitar). The ensemble will also have 2 radio performances whilst in the States, the first on September 21st to support the benefit show the next day will air live on KEXP’s The Morning Show With John Richards, and the second on September 26th will air on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic.
According to a press release:
A hugely ambitious, widescreen and epic record, “We Can Create” runs the full length of the transmission spectrum, from euphoric space-rock to folksy, downtempo whisperings and clattering, thudding noise-pop. A bedroom genius in every sense, the record was painstakingly spliced together in his Northamptonshire bedroom without the aid of his computer, instead every layer of sound was recorded onto his battered 16-track recorder. The results were subsequently co-produced by Valgeir Sigurdsson (Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Bjork) and mixed by Ken Thomas (Sigur Ros, Hope Of The States).
Maps Links
It’s a very chill, atmospheric album, kinda like Spiritualized. You can listen to songs from We Can Create on the Maps$pace plus get more info about his travels around Europe. The US tour has not been posted yet, but if you are in the UK, Germany, Norway, etc. you can catch Maps live in either September or October, before or after the US tour. I bet the US tour will be added there soon.
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