TRACK: Maps – ‘Sleep Today’ (Go! Team remix): a grinsome tune to banish the winter blues

JAMES CHAPMAN, the South Midlands producer better known to lovers of a stonking good tune as Maps, has followed up his single from a month or so back, “Sleep Today”, with a Go! Team remix of that selfsame track.

We adored the original when it dropped a month back, noting: “It’s a glorious pop rush, straddling that point where leftfield pop and dance culture and indie meet and swim together, like so many of these islands’ greatest bands and musical moments of recent decades.” (You can pop over, read more, and hear our embed here).

We loved the original, and we definitely also adore what the Go! Team bring with their sharp pop nous – take a listen for yourself. They layer in a live break, some xylophone ping, some theremin and some wobbly guitar. Sometimes you have to lay aside the music hack’s book of critical adjectives and say: a proper cute banger that’ll put a grin on your chops, and that’s the sum total of it. It’s a tune, no more, no less.

James says he chose to invite Ian, Ninja, Sam et al in for a remix as: “… their music is so joyous.

“They’ve delivered an absolute classic of a remix, delving into the different parts of my song and creating something completely fresh, while also adding that signature Go! Team sound. I love it.”

Both tracks are taken from his forthcoming  4-track EP, which is out on December 18th and which also features a remix of new track “Something New’” from The Other Two – Stephen and Gillian from New Order.

“Sleep Today” stems from the sessions for Maps’ 2019 album Colours. Reflect. Time. Loss. 

James says: “Music has always been a therapy for me, and I definitely have an escapist mentality when creating and listening to songs.

“‘Sleep Today’ is a song that always lifts my spirits when I listen to it and that is the feeling I was trying to evoke when writing and recording the track.”

It carries, he says, a “positive message about trying to come to terms with the present and looking forward to better times” – away with thee, 2020.

Colours. Reflect. Time. Loss. is out now on Mute; follow Maps at his website and on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.