Maps & Diagrams: "Darker Reflections"

Tim Martin, one of the surviving stars of the Toytronic label, has carved a nice little niche for himself since IDM went out of fashion. No longer contributing to ultra-rare vinyl where the beats sound like Aphex Twin’s pepper pot, he now records drone as Maps & Diagrams, with four LPs already behind him. Like the Caretaker but more murky, his music’s filled with instrumental twists that distinguish him from other pad stretchers—instead of loosing off a storm of noise Martin’s patient, spooking you out one layer at a time. Add to this his pervading optimism and you’ve got drone music delivered like a wedding cake.

Perhaps that’s why his new LP comes with a promise of a shift to the dark side. The Town Beneath the Sea is rougher than its predecessors, and “Darker Reflections” gives a demonstration of how it’s possible to be both dark and light together. Any synaesthetics who want to know what fog sounds like, this is it: the track rolls in fast, tape hiss everywhere, instruments hard to identify. Somewhere in the mist are guitar tabs, vague and snowy enough to be pasted over someone’s home movie but quickly overcome by church noises, like listening to an organ while having your ears syringed. This face-off isn’t as neutralizing as it should be, and despite the new mood Maps & Diagrams are still seductive, and still leave you feeling you’re watching the world through an unclean tropical aquarium.