We Can Create

We Can Create
Label: Mute
Length: LP
Media: CD
Format: Album
WorkNameSort: We Can Create
When he crafted the deceptively expansive We Can Create under the name Maps in his bedroom, James Chapman passed up Apple Logic for his 16-track recorder. The woozy, electronically nuanced pop of Chapman’s debut LP boasts a layer of sheen that owes to production assistance from Valgeir Sigurdsson (Björk) and Ken Thomas (Sigur Rós), but the impressive dynamics were built on treated guitars, synths, brass and occasional field noise. The grandiose march of ‘Lost My Soulâ?� opened a mini-album teaser last year called Start Something; although it was the strongest of the pre-LP bunch, its place on We Can Create is blatantly overshadowed. Chapman channels Stone Roses’ Ian Brown with his intimate vocal on ‘Liquid Sugar,â?� while frequent complete dropouts find only the entry’s chiming guitar and kick drum hosting the refrain. The potential that Start Something merely hinted at is fulfilled tenfold on We Can Create, in generous sound shifts and catchy, jubilant melodies.

This article appears in Jun 20-26, 2007.