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VIDEOS

“Fever”

“Remote & Dark Years”

In a musical landscape pitted with pop stars and pigeonholes, Maps & Atlases defy easy categorization, choosing to walk their own incomparable path. Beware and be grateful builds upon the Chicago-based band's acclaimed Barsuk debut, Perch Patchwork, melding their trademark experimentalism with a more direct — though no less beguiling — songcraft. The new album abounds with invention, spanning hymnal harmonies, percolating rhythms, even, in the case of centerpiece track silver self, a full-on guitar solo. Songs like remote and dark years and winter are gloriously liquid and lyrical, channeling M&A's maximalist creativity into a truly inviting brand of boundary-busting, asymmetrical pop.