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 CHRIS PERREN of local instrumental ensemble MR. MAPS talks to DARRAGH MURRAY about the imminent release of their debut record and the band’s aversion to the label ‘post-rock’.
It’s been a long time coming, but finally Mr. Maps are on the verge of offering the world their debut long player, Wire Empire. Forming in 2007, the group released double EP, Mimicry of Lines and Light, in 2009 and double A-side, Nice Fights, in 2010, but the journey to the debut record has taken much longer than expected.
“It’s been a really long time in the making,” Perren reveals, “When we started talking about it, it was going to be coming early 2010, then late 2010. Now it’s going to be coming out early 2011. It’s been a long road and it’s really good to be finally prepping to actually get it out there.”
Utilising the skills of local producer, Steve Bartlett, the band opted to tinker with the initial recordings, with each member collaborating in the editing process before it went through an extended mixing process. The record was then sent to New York to be mastered. And while Mr. Maps are known for their meticulously wrought instrumental math rock numbers, the new record reveals a change in approach to the one used on their first EP.
“With the first record I think we took ourselves really seriously and all of the songs had this very epic grandeur about them and I think with this album we cleared a lot of the clutter away from the ideas so they’re much more focused and much less trying to be earth-shattering,” Perren reveals, “It’s a lot more condensed and even kind of fun and frivolous at times, which is a new thing for us. ”
This sense of fun may also correspond to the band’s efforts to shake the spectre of post rock, a label that Perren believes is a misnomer.
“We’re are actually trying to steer clear of the post-rock label just because I guess it’s a really homogenous genre. Usually when people hear the words ‘post-rock’ they think fifteen-minute songs with three chords. And because we try to avoid that, I guess we don’t call ourselves post-rock.”
While not formulaic by any stretch of the term, Perren reveals that there is a rough philosophy behind the music found on Wire Empire.
“I’m really conscious of the balance between familiarity and I guess something more challenging in the music. Any composition is just kind of string of things that you already know and things that you don’t yet know,” Chris states, “So I guess we’re really conscious of the balance between those two.”
Promotion duties will see Mr. Maps travel south to launch the record in both Sydney and Melbourne, after which the band hope to explore fresh pastures.
“Now that this record is done, we’re really tempted towards new material and a different sound. So we might be looking at changing the sound of the band quite considerably after the album comes out. I guess we want to explore something a little more experimental perhaps.”
MR. MAPS launch WIRE EMPIRE on Saturday Jan 15 at The Alley in Brisbane City (77 Elizabeth St). Tickets are $18 on the door and include a copy of the record, with supports including Skinny Jean and Doom Doom. www.mr-maps.tumblr.com
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