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Indian Summer has already carved out a niche for itself on the crowded music festival scene. With a laid back vibe, a leafy park setting in Glasgow’s West End and a host of activities on offer that range from massages to bowling, and from croquet to shopping there’s something a bit different about the two year old event. The rather eclectic line up compliments the setting perfectly and also fits artists like Maps.
While James Chapman’s debut album 'We Can Create' may have been put together by himself on a 16 track recorder in his bedroom, live he is boosted by an additional quartet of musicians, adding extra guitars, bass, keyboards and drums to the mix, all of which gives extra strength and power to his hazy, dreamlike sound. There are several obvious checkpoints in the Maps sound, from a host of electonica and synth heavy acts, to pretty much the entire shoe gazing genre. Though acts like Ride, LCD Soundsystem and even a hint of the destructive racket of My Bloody Valentine are seeping out from every pore, there’s enough individuality present with Maps to ensure they are not merely repeating acts from bygone years.
In fairness, although the likes of the ringing, euphoric ‘Elouise’ and the swirling ’It Will Find You’ create such a wall of sound that it’s impossible not to get carried along and lose yourself in a daze, there are some problems with Maps. Nearly every song in this mid afternoon set is concluded with an inevitable “Cheers, thanks” and not a word more from Chapman, while the band stand around fairly motionless throughout, meaning they’re not exactly the most thrilling band to watch. The Flaming Lips (who later brought the festival to a close) they are not.
However, that’s not really what Maps are about. They are focused purely on the music itself, and conjuring up vast sound-scapes that drone out, like Spiritualized before they lost the plot. Instead of featuring too much harsh guitar there’s far more electronic bleeps but the general woozy ambience is the same and many of the gathered crowd were nodding along, away in their own world. This festival appearance proved Maps can produce an atmosphere of natural highs no matter the location.
