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Maps & Atlases - Perch Patchwork

Serviceable indie rock tunes...

Rating: 5

It’s great when boundlessly inventive bands go into hiding for a couple of years and then come out with something mindblowing, less so when the results are this… standard. There’s nothing immediately wrong with ‘Perch Patchwork’ – ‘Living Decorations’ and ‘Israeli Caves’ are serviceable indie rock tunes, and ‘Was’ is a teasingly low-key ditty – but the core of the album is eminently forgettable. ‘Solid Ground’ dances by blandly, ‘Banished Be Cavalier’ has no defining characteristics beyond a few nice guitar twinkles. Not bad per se, but not worth crossing the road for. And for a band like Maps & Atlases, that’s something of a failure.

Ben Patashnik