Maps + Atlases Tree, Swallows, Houses. Release Date : 2006. Label: Independent. Rating: Good. (Screw points. To each his own!) Whoa, I'm whipped into a frenzy at the opening track, "Everyplace Is A House." Blipping, crazy-mad instruments roll over you in a frenzy. It's quite jarring, but the guts of the song are immeasurably adorable. Everything from the lead singer's cute falling-off throaty voice, to the little hand-clap interlude, to the startlingly-quick instruments add up to a jivey and engaging introduction. The electric guitars in this have a chippy quality to them that reminds me of a banjo. Really unexpected music - the choruses and verses are not clearly defined, and I think aren't even the same throughout the songs. It's like they chopped up 50 one-minute songs they wrote and then stitched them all back together. Maybe they did, and that's the meaning of the embroidery on the front cover. "Stories About Ourselves" is tempered with this squeaky, rusty gate sound. Eeeeuuuugh, like fingernails on a chalkboard. Song of choice : Really like "Big Bopper Anthems." -Andy Scheffler Elsewhere Maps + Atlases website Published : January, 2007.