Review Summary: One of 2026's most beautiful albums from an unlikely source.
There is nothing more frustrating than unfulfilled potential. It is a genuine heartbreaker when you are excited for an artist's new material and the final product fails to meet the expectations generated by the previous projects. It is even more of a letdown when said artist is fairly new or underground; every release feels like a monumental step towards a fully realized artistic identity. Squandering that opportunity makes you feel frustrated and foolish. It makes you feel like you wasted your time anticipating something that should elate you but, alas, it has only brought disappointment. Fortunately, that is not one of those days. No, today it is all about accomplished potential and one of the year’s best albums from one of the most unlikely sources.
For a band that has spent more than two decades in Warrington’s music scene, calling The Ambersons “new” would be misleading. Sure,
Maps is, at long last, their debut full-length record and stands as their first complete artistic statement, but it is far from an introduction to what makes them special. Just last year, their live album
Winter Songs Act I was an incredible collection of performances that spotlighted their strengths; where their earlier releases were enjoyable yet nondescript in their sound, their songwriting shines on the live album’s orchestral, ornate instrumentation and dreamy harmonies. In my review for said release, I was eager to see if they would carry that energy in their next output;
Maps is nothing but the sound of potential being realized.
Having lost none of its lustre as a single, ‘Funny Ways’ comes out swinging as an opener with its bright strings and punchy mid-tempo groove. Its confessions of love at first sight and fear of solitude are already touching thanks to the beautiful instrumentation and vocal performance; the call-and-response harmonies in the pre-chorus and the fuzzy glam-rock guitars towards the climax infuse the song with a cosmic shimmer. The same goes for ‘Flicker’, where the soulful verses lead into an anthemic hook that is one of the stickiest on the album. Highlight ‘The Way We Used To Feel’ showcases the synergy that shone all over
Winter Songs Act I; the band’s gorgeous harmonies lead this lovelorn waltz that evokes a melancholy that Phil Collins could elicit in seconds. Even the straightforward balladry of ‘Puddles’ receives a fresh sheen with the strings that appear with the first chorus and its dreamy instrumental section that finishes off the track. The band’s symbiotic nature is spotlighted beautifully when backed against those orchestral touches.
But they’re also striking gold when they let loose. Case in point: ‘The Easy Way’ and ‘Tin Hat Crown’ beg for a few more weeks of hot weather to become summer staples for outdoor festivals. They’re both equally groovy, bursting with pop sensibilities and subtle psychedelic textures, but the band's core strengths (the group harmonies, the vintage synths and keyboards, the production’s live quality) are still omnipresent. ‘(I Don’t Hear You) Call My Name’, which sounded fun but with little meat on its bones as a single back in June, gets new blood pumped into it within its tracklist; its sunshine-pop-influenced guitars and synths and Midge Fairington’s relaxed performance beautifully fits
Maps’ warm atmosphere.
Don’t be fooled by how lovely these songs sound; the lyrics tell a different story and The Ambersons are consciously playing within this contrast.
Maps is an apt title for a record that narrates the ups and downs of pursuing love with a partner and also with your own self. What starts as a journey towards falling in love (“And she had such a face/Like nothing that I've seen” on ‘Funny Ways’) ends up being a declaration of emotional disconnect (“Now I'm waiting for that girl to call my name” on ‘(I Don’t Hear You) Call My Name’). The impossibly romantic ‘Up In Arms’ finds the band head over heels for a woman who doesn't match their excitement—but they still believe that the power of time will bridge their gap. The line of “I'm writing fairytales and you were up in arms” spotlights not only the disconnect between a lovesick partner and an exasperated one; it also expresses the frustration of capturing your affection into art and not having it being received with equal excitement. The aforementioned festival-ready ‘The Easy Way’ is a huge get-the-f
uck-up rocker about addiction and the futility of finding solace from your problems in another form of entrapment, emphasized by its repetitive outro of “it goes around and around”. “People say that I'm already there” goes the chorus—or is it “People say that I'm already
dead”? It’s hard to tell those two words apart, and maybe that’s the point.
Being in love is a constant seesaw between intense passion and longing for connection, all while grappling with your own place in the world. The roadmap is captured elegantly throughout
Maps; even when the journey is bleak—such as on ‘You Know You Don't Know’’s tale of trying to defy your past habits—the music is always enchanting and dreamy. The whole journey flows beautifully from one track into another and while
Maps doesn't contain any genre-shifts (remaining firmly in its orchestral indie-rock and chamber pop lane), it's never melodically or sonically redundant; each song has its own identity and all contribute to the whole. Just as I hoped: a complete artistic statement.
Closer ‘Smile’ is a little plodding, a little cloying and obvious in its sentiment and the only stumble in this otherwise strong set of songs. But even on the weakest cut, the production is beautiful, all pianos, fuzzy guitars and soft rock drums. And singing about wanting to just bring joy to another person’s life is the most appropriate send-off to the ups and downs narrated in the preceding nine tracks. But aside from the album's narrative, isn't that what The Ambersons are all about? Their mission statement has always been choosing love despite the hardships it presents and even if they color that statement with platitudes such as “smiles follow everything you do”, the music can't help but bring that grin on your face.
Maps comes full-circle. It finds our heroes in love yet in fear of losing it, in a cyclical state of running from their past that may jeopardize their affection. It concludes with our heroes realizing that such feelings go hand-in-hand and that it's an everyday fight to preserve that love. But it also finds the band negotiating their sound and putting forward a distinct body of work. It concludes with them finally achieving that.
