Maps Atlases Lightlessness

stream Maps & Atlases' "Ringing Bell" from first album in 6 years

Math-pop staples Maps & Atlases are finally set to release their first album in six years, Lightlessness Is Nothing New, on June 1 via Barsuk (pre-order). We recently posted lead single “Fall Apart” and we’re now premiering another track from the album, “Ringing Bell,” along with its lyric video. Like “Fall Apart,” “Ringing Bell” still sounds like classic Maps & Atlases but also sees them going in a more danceable pop direction with more electronics in the mix. It may be an upbeat song, but as most of this new album is, it’s about a tragic topic. Frontman Dave Davison wrote the album while grieving over the passing of his father, and some of “Ringing Bell” was actually written the day he passed. Dave tells us:

I wrote a few lines of “Ringing Bell” the day that my dad passed away. I wanted to express the strangeness of witnessing such a surreal transformation undertaken by someone so close to me, but I didn’t try to finish the song in that state, as I knew I didn’t yet have any perspective on the loss.

That lack of perspective itself became a theme in the song. After he passed, I felt the need to put some shoes on my dad, despite the protest of the people picking him up that he wouldn’t need them. I describe this moment in the song, as it reflects both a general and specific disorientation of loss, with the line, “I thought you still might need my shoes / somehow I’d like to still believe / that they might be of some use.”

Check out the new song below.

As mentioned, Maps & Atlases will be on tour surrounding the album’s release, and most of that tour will be with Prism Tats, who released Mamba on ANTI- earlier this year (and recently put out a video for the psychedelic title track that you can watch below).

The tour includes a Brooklyn show on June 20 at Music Hall of Williamsburg (tickets). All dates are listed below.

Maps & Atlases — 2018 Tour Dates
5/29: 7th Street Entry – Minneapolis, MN
6/01: Upstream Music Festival – Seattle, WA
6/02: Volume Music Festival – Spokane, WA
6/03: Holocene – Portland, OR
6/06: Rickshaw Stop – San Francisco, CA
6/07: Lodge Room – Los Angeles, CA
6/08: Casbah – San Diego, CA*
6/09: Rebel Lounge – Phoenix, AZ*
6/10: Sister Bar – Albuquerque, NM*
6/12: Club Dada – Dallas, TX*
6/13: Scoot Inn – Austin, TX*
6/14: White Oak Upstairs – Houston, TX*
6/15: Parish @ House of Blues – New Orleans, LA*
6/16: Georgia Theatre – Athens, GA*
6/17: Cat’s Cradle – Back Room – Carrboro, NC*
6/19: Rock & Roll Hotel – Washington, DC*
6/20: Music Hall of Williamsburg – New York, NY
6/21: Sonia – Boston, MA*
6/22: Johnny Brenda’s – Philadelphia, PA*
6/23: Cattivo – Pittsburgh, PA*
6/24: Grog Shop – Cleveland, OH*
6/26: Rumba – Columbus, OH*
6/27: El Club – Detroit, MI*
6/28: Lincoln Hall – Chicago, IL*
6/30: Fountain Square Music Series – Cincinnati, OH

* w/ Prism Tats