By Will McGuirk
If Covid-19 cabin fever is stirring inside, just strap on the headphones and immerse yourself in the prog-realism of Mappe Of’s latest album ‘The Isle of Ailynn’; its a sonic get-outside. An album-length accompanying video has been released to feast your eyes on as you take yourself away for a fantastic voyage. Music is a healer, it is in these times more so and the space Mappe Of (aka Tome Meikle of Whitby, ON) has drawn up, out and on, is one well-earned wellness break. As we all await the captain’s orders we reached out to Tom to see how he is faring in our land of Pandemia.
Slowcity: Woodshedding doesn't seem to be an issue for you, I say that as I haven't heard from you in a while and then wow you come out with this great visualisation for the album - artists disappear and then appear with new work but how has this enforced woodshedding affected you?
Mappe Of: “It's definitely something I've done habitually in the past to get in a certain headspace. I spent a few days alone in a literal cabin in the woods for the past few summers, not necessarily to write music but to have the space to let that stuff brew. It's in my nature to lay low I think, so the current situation isn't entirely out of my comfort zone. That said, interacting with human beings is an essential part of making things, so we're still exploring ways for that to happen.”
Slowcity: Do you feel pressure to create or are you chilling?
MO: “I think there is an element of that, but not far beyond where it was before anyways. That pressure is always there in varying degrees. Particularly now because there was sort of a cultural thing of 'all these artists are going to hole up and make records during the pandemic', which is a nice concept but not entirely realistic. I feel grateful to have something that I can pour myself into at this time though, that's for sure.”
Slowcity: Tell me about the video - its genesis and what further plans do you have to dig deeper into the Isle of Ailynn?
MO: “We've been working on this virtual reality project for some time now, and these 2D visuals were developed from the VR stuff for the album release show in November. We decided to release them as something that might ease folks' minds during this tectonic shift. We have plans to develop the project beyond the 2D video realm, as it was created entirely in VR, so has the potential to become a much more immersive experience. We're on the hunt for further resources on that front. There's a whole bunch of lore and whatnot I developed for the record that has yet to see the light of day, so I'm looking forward to incorporating new mediums like this to deliver that world-building. “
“NAC CanadaPerforms series of live stream performances on Wednesday, April 29th at 7PM EDT. ”
Slowcity: There is an opportunity for innovation around performance and delivery of music at this time - what are you cooking up to reach out and share the tunes?
MO: “I just did a live stream with the creators of the visuals (Kristyn Watterworth and Ed Platero) on YouTube Live, and I'll be performing for the NAC CanadaPerforms series of live stream performances on Wednesday, April 29th at 7PM EDT. I'm doing some experimenting right now with tech setups and ways to adapt to our new situation.”
Slowcity: Are you talking the opportunity to go down some music rabbit holes - what records have you been listening to? and why?
MO: “I've been going back to stuff like Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell recently, along with digging into Hiss Golden Messenger a ton, but also a bunch of instrumental guitar stuff like John Fahey and William Tyler. A little bit of video game soundtrack music, some of the Studio Ghibli soundtracks, and a lot of Oneohtrixpointnever. As for why, the acoustic guitar has always been a grounding, friendly presence for me, and maybe the intense electronic stuff like Oneohtrix offsets it with a healthy dose of dystopia? The video game soundtracks just make me feel good.
Slowcity: Its curious to me, as I said in the review for slowcity.ca, you created a place to travel to with that record - listening to it is a staycation but where do you go when you go out into the physical world - are you seeking wilderness, plazas, water - where is your physical Isle of Ailynn?
MO: “My physical Isle is definitely the wilderness, but sometimes not so far away, sometimes it's just this tree by the waterfront in Whitby that has a perfect shape for sitting in, sometimes it's in the middle of a lake in a canoe. Wherever you can find those moments.”