Single Review: Macseal – Map It Out EP

New York quintet Macseal have been around since 2014, and in their current incarnation since 2015, they’ve previously released a trio of EP’s, 2015’s Macseal EP, 2016’s Etc. and 2017’s Yeah, No, I Know, that have drawn them towards their new home, 6131 Records, who will release their label debut, the Map It Out EP. Macseal have always embraced a diverse range of influences, everything from the likes of Motion City Soundtrack and Paramore to Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin and Soccer Mommy have etched themselves into collective consciousness and their new material indicates they are still broadening their horizons

Recorded in Baltimore’s Magpie Cage studio the Map It Out EP indicates that Macseal have adopted something of an indie influence for the debut for 6131 Records. Sure Thing, Shelley opens the EP with a promising slice of indie power pop that possesses the melancholy overtones of The Weakerthans, from this point Macseal head into a more jangly indie direction but with subtle variations, Golden Hour has a mellow mathrock structure, Old Halls veers between delicately picked and upbeat indie rock and the EP’s finale, Sleeping In, has an appropriate slacker vibe.

Whether the Map It Out EP will be to your taste depends on whether the complex structures of math core blended with indie is to your taste, Macseal‘s label debut for 6131 Records is a release that seems to lose impetus with each track. I found that the initial promise contained in Sure Thing, Shelley slowly ebbed away with each subsequent track and left me feeling underwhelmed. Having said that if you’re a fan of their previous EP’s then this is a logical progression for the band, one that their established fanbase will lap up when it’s released on the 9th November.

Map It Out can be pre-ordered digitally via Bandcamp here

You can pre-order Map It Out on cassette via 6131 Records here