James Chapman returns with new 'escapist, melodic and uplifting' Maps album Counter Melodies

“Although there was no kind of master plan, I wanted to make this an escapist, melodic, uplifting record.”
Maps / James ChapmanMaps / James Chapman
Maps / James Chapman

After releasing the first half of Counter Melodies into the wild in October last year, Maps is poised to release the second side of the new album next week.

Counter Melodies is the fifth record by Northampton electronic musician James Chapman and will follow 2019’s Colours. Reflect. Time. Loss.

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In the streaming era, it’s common place for artists to release more singles than ever ahead of an album.

It’s rarer however to see a record intentionally released in two halves.

“The whole album has a flow to it, one of my ideas was to make it a continuous record with songs flowing into each other, but there is a definite break in the middle,” explains Chapman.

“There’s two halves and it felt right to release it in that way.

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“I was excited to get the tracks out and this seemed a good way to do it.”

The first five tracks released by Chapman in October were Witchy Feel, Heya Yaha, Thru Lights, Psyche and Window Open.

New single Fever Dream followed last month and on February 10, remaining tracks Transmission, Lack Of Sleep, Valentine and My Love Is Like will be available – bringing Counter Melodies together as one entity.

“It’s good to be finally almost there,” explains Chapman. “It’s taken a little while to get here.

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“Initially, I saw this as a project to get out quite sharpish, but it just never happens that way.

“I think I spent a good year getting the tracks together and then figuring out what exactly I was going to do in terms of turning it into an album.”

The first tracks for Counter Melodies were written during the first coronavirus lockdown in 2020, with Chapman admitting he was “writing tracks just to keep sane.”

He adds: “There was no master plan, but by the end of that year I had about 30 tracks and I realised what I was doing to keep myself occupied could be turned into an album.

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“It was very therapeutic for me, but also ended up becoming something I could release.”

Counter Melodies was written, recorded, mixed and produced in Chapman’s Northamptonshire home, a first for a Maps record.

In recent years Chapman has been mixing other people’s albums so decided to take on the entire process this time around.

He adds: “Sometimes you need someone to come in and have an objective take on things, but this one I spent so much time on it on my own, it became part of my psyche, I wanted to finish it all.”

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While still sounding quintessentially a Maps record, Counter Melodies is the most upbeat, uplifting and highest tempo record Chapman has recorded.

While he says there was “no masterplan,” from the offset, Chapman wanted to make an “escapist, melodic and uplifting record.”

“It seemed the world at the time was the opposite to that,” he explains, “and it was very much fighting against those feelings.

“I’ve always used music as an escape, but probably more so on this one, that was the key objective.”

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Latest single Fever Dream was written by Chapman while suffering with insomnia.

Despite admitting it probably wasn’t the wisest way to cope with the condition, he worked into the early hours on the track.

“I was trying to capture the feeling of the kind of waves of confusion and thoughts coming in and out of my head at that time of night,” he explains.

“It’s very much a track which feels like it’s falling apart - but I wanted to hold things together sonically and have things coming in and out and just try and capture that feeling of some disorientation.”

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Pushed to pick a favourite track on Counter Melodies, Chapman picks album opener Witchy Feel.

“I’ve got a soft spot for that track because it’s one of the first I made.

“It had the direction I was going for encapsulated in it and it always felt like an opening track.”

At the end of last year, Ride’s Andy Bell also remixed Witchy Feel.

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Chapman adds: “I remember listening to (1992 Ride album) Going Blank Again on cassette on the way to school, never dreaming that one day he’d be a fan.

“It’s pretty amazing I’ve made these connections with people, legends such as him.”

Chapman and Maps rose to prominence in 2007 with his Mercury Prize nominated debut album We Can Create.

Its successor Turning The Mind was released in 2009 and Maps’ third album, Vicissitude followed in 2013.

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Chapman has also collaborated with Polly Scattergood under the name onDeadWaves

Aside from a few shows, Chapman didn’t tour Counter Melodies predecessor and while there’s no tour date in the diary currently, he’s working on how the record could be taken on the road.

He said: “Because it’s quite a different sounding album, I plan to do some DJ spots.

“This album could lend itself to some kind of live show, I’m just figuring out in what capacity.

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“Most of my albums are quite different, it’s figuring out what form you get out there and let people hear it.”

Aside from work on Maps, Chapman has recently been working with Adam Nutter, former guitarist in The Music, producing his solo album.

Counter Melodies is released on February 10 via Mute Records.

It is available to pre-order now and is available on a limited-edition white vinyl pressing as well as CD and digitally.

For more information, visit https://thisismaps.com

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