With Mapmaker, Parts & Labor display a newfound matur-- wait, come back! I know what you're thinking. "Maturity" means new heights for some, and a slower and duller version of the same for most. For noiseniks like Parts & Labor-- a band that wears its hardcore roots on its sleeves-- maturity would likely mean the latter. I wouldn't blame anyone who read that and immediately thought of all the *Sandinista!*s and Candy Apple Greys crowding the used bins of record stores worldwide. P&L have the same members as on last year's Stay Afraid, as well as the same basic sound: uptempo noise punk with the irrepressible drums of Chris Weingarten, blurting and squealing keyboards to replace guitars, and the vocals always set to a strident, monotone bellow. However, Mapmaker does everything else it can to diversify their sound without sacrificing the winning formula they've established.
On paper, these new flourishes are signals of a band that's probably spinning its wheels: horn sections, more vocal harmonies, more open space, more slow songs... but bear with me. Stay Afraid wasn't just exhilarating, it was exhausting and bordered on uncomfortable in its relentlessly treble-heavy attack. A little open space does wonders for the band, especially on tracks like "Ghosts Will Burn", where the death rattle of a cheap keyboard precedes vicious stabs of distorted bass and a precise drum beat that murders the fourth bar while letting an ominous air fill the other three. Plenty of inadvisable influences killed punk bands, but a little bit of funk never hurt. "The Gold We're Digging" adds a bit of rave-era rhythm to its sober sloganeering, and "Long Way Down" is makes more stunning use of space with firing-line percussion and ringing high notes that nearly falls apart before rising up in a wave of cacaphony and thundering low-end.
The growth extends to second vocalist BJ Warshaw, whose "Brighter Days" is his best spotlight track thus far, unaccompanied vocals juxtaposed with rhythmless noise interludes, all grounded by the album's most calculated melody. Elsewhere, the dominating textures on "Fake Rain" and "New Crimes" are their nimble clean guitar lines. Even the more obvious dynamic tricks, like the disorienting attack-and-retreat of "Camera Shy" or the simmering tension of "Unexplosions", still have plenty of mileage when in their hands. As for those horns, opening track "Fractured Skies" tucks them into a final gasp on its gargantuan final chorus, spending every moment of its frenetic drumming and counterpoint keyboard squeals building up to that one moment-- they know you gotta earn those horns, and they do.
The band didn't need to grow up in any way, especially as it's only been a year between releases. Regardless, Parts & Labor took cues from their forebears and tried their hand at a more diverse record without losing the thread, leaving the more wildly experimental work for their tour EPs and pushing at the walls of the box they established with Stay Afraid. By now, we know there doesn't have to be a binary between young and reckless or old and slow-- it's a balancing act, and Parts & Labor balanced it pretty well here.
