Under the auspicious spotlight of the mainstream media, Northampton’s Maps trudge out to a barrage of white noise and dark undertones. As arty as the ICA pretends to be, Maps are as equally uneasy here as they would be on any stage, anywhere in the world. They are head-down droners, with a natty sideline in peculiarly catchy repetition. The intro tape is looped and hypnotic. The anti-appearance of Maps and the sudden stopping of the tape jolts everyone back to normal. Normal, though, is the last place Maps belong.

A curiously quick 35-minute set evolves into a barrage of percussive beats and Cathedral droning that fills the ICA like gas. With the bass turned a notch too high and the vocals a notch too low, it is hard to find a frontman as the band jump and communicate without burdening James, the vocalist, with the tag of ‘frontman’. When all this is stuck together in a bedroom in Northampton, the vision is a thousand hands raised to the music: dry ice everywhere, not what shirt he’s wearing. On tonight’s attire, be thankful!

There are no short tracks, no filler; it’s all epic swathes of sonic tidal waves that kick like My Bloody Valentine when they were good. ‘It Will Find You’, with its Delays repeat keyboard riffs and soft industrial clutter, is almost euphoric, and ‘Back And Forth’ serves as a sly reminder of James’ Short Break Operator days. The difference in the sound of Nottingham and the sound of Northampton is massive. They are mellower in Departure country. No metal, apparently…

Papering over the crack that is ‘Start Something’ live (c’mon lads, it can’t be that hard to do…), Maps are the most sweepingly gorgeous noise there is right now. All the parts fall into place beautifully and this hack fidgets childishly at the brilliance of it all. And I made it to the end without a geographic pun.

Live image taken from Maps' Myspace page, here