It’s spring and my speakers are a complicated venue. Every year I hunt for a colorful track that will aide me in giving the middle finger to the miserable cold yet respect my need to ease into the ridiculously optimistic summer. I’m gently emerging from hibernation, and as though commissioned to do so, Maps & Atlases deliver my dream track for spring with “Winter.”
Bright, hopeful instrumental layers are a dancing pulse beneath the pleasing overcast of Dave Davison’s fetching vocal hooks. Guitars that shift from delivering strong chords to blurting through rolling melodies are charming and always on point. Background vocals that effortlessly contrast and complement the lead with their sparkle and drums that only know how to move forward clinch the track’s destiny as a have-it-all.
The effortlessness that Maps & Atlases exude cannot be overlooked. From the lyrics (which are perfectly unassuming) to the rolling chorus, it feels like “Winter” just fell out of them one day, never needing a single improvement.
It’s pop without being packaged. It’s melancholy without passing it on. It is, in fact, that late-spring urge you get to roll the windows down in your car even if it’s not quite warm enough yet. It’s hot in the sun and cold in the shade and damn it, you’re ready to have both.