On their latest single ‘Only For Today’, Seattle trio Map of the Woulds wrestle with impermanence, memory and the uncomfortable knowledge that almost everything we try to hold onto eventually changes or disappears. In another band’s hands that could become unbearably solemn. But Map of the Woulds wrap the idea in angular rock, psychedelic colour, dark jazz and enough rhythmic eccentricity to keep the song permanently off balance.
Woody Frank’s lyrics begin with a house built on sand, already collapsing before it can properly stand. From there, promises of permanence disappear almost as quickly as they are made, as heroes lose their shine and even memory becomes unreliable. Yet ‘Only For Today’ never sounds defeated.
Its refrain accepts the moment’s temporary nature while continuing to reach for connection. The crucial turn comes when the song effectively admits that transience is tolerable as long as there’s someone beside you. That small emotional concession prevents the track from becoming an intellectual exercise and gives all of its strange musical architecture something deeply human to orbit.
Musically, Map of the Woulds remain gloriously difficult to pin down. Woody’s guitar and voice work against Andrew Woods’ bass and Adrian Woods’ homemade drum kit with the flexibility of musicians who appear to regard genre conventions as suggestions at best. Their description of themselves as everything from avant-garde pop to funky prog and psychedelic rock is amusing, but also fairly accurate.
Recorded between Rosewood Studio and Ed Shot Studio, with Adrian Woods handling mixing and mastering, the track feels appropriately alive and unpredictable.
‘Only For Today’ takes one of life’s least comforting truths and does something surprisingly generous with it. If the moment is going to disappear anyway, Map of the Woulds suggest we might as well be fully inside it while it’s here.