Album Details

• Artist: Three Mile Pilot
• EP:
Maps
• Label: Temporary Residence)
• Year of Release: 2012
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2012-07-17

Continuing to play at the peak they have reached even since their 2010 reunion, the legendary Three Mile Pilot offer five songs of beauty grit and grace. "Maps" is an EP with more ideas than most double CD releases.

The jittery and jaunty "Long Way Up" opens the set, a somewhat unsettlingly earnest pop, one that is unselfconsciously reassuring with both its 80s melody and positive message. "Wires" is much more ambivalent, and its crunchy, well, Wire-esque minimalism supported by a gorgeous, somewhat lush final third. "Blu," borrows from No-Wave to achieve many of the same effects. The closer, "Birdy," is busy musically but not confusing, and its haunting vocals echo in ways that give the abstract lines a feel of poetry.

Legends can skate, and often do, on what they have done before. Three Mile Pilot have made it clear that this reunion has not been for nostalgia or vanity. "Maps" continues to explore the band's classic sound, adding, subtracting and arguing with its legacy. Since they got back into the game almost three years ago, the band has proved over and over that their confidence and creativity still have plenty of life left. This is a teaser of what we can expect in further installments of Three Mile Pilot as revived and reenergized. 

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