“Where the Map Ends” depicts a place where the normal rules no longer apply, where what happens next cannot be predicted and where there is no obvious route back to recognisable places; somewhere until recently, few expected to find themselves.
Much of the EP was written and recorded by the duo during lockdown without access to their usual collaborators but with plenty of time to experiment. One result is some unexpected additions to their perennially eclectic sound palette. On the lead track, Jema’s crystalline voice expresses a sense of the uncrossable distance between people who fail to communicate, before the track gradually morphs into a sort of evocative sea shanty with banjo and accordion. ‘Turn Out The Lights (nocturne 8)’ continues their adventures in blending classical-inspired piano music with electronics and elsewhere they experiment with dub melodica (‘Elegy Five’) and the influences of Steve Reich’s minimalism (‘Life is Now (Phase 1)’).
The melancholy in their music is a heartfelt response to our times, and yet peace can also be found there together with the possibility of joy and hope.
1. For Want of Words
2. Life Is now (Phase One)
3. Elegy Five
4. Turn Out the Lights (Nocturne 8)
5. Where the Map Ends