Wedding Dress

***Made up of various members of MAPS & ATLASES, SUNS, JOAN OF ARC and GYPSY BLOOD, WEDDING DRESS are about as Chicago as it gets. Dreamt up as side-project/outlet for Maps & Atlases guitar player ERIN ELDERS, songs were written between tours and slowly released during his "math-pop" band's fleeting downtime. Wedding Dress is a distinctly other affair—it's more layered, plaintive and measured than anything in Elders' previous catalog. The songs are textured narratives. The instrumentation is restrained and, in many ways, the project stands as a perfect counter-point to the sometimes spastic Maps. That's not to say its a dull affair. The songs are beautiful in their sparseness, the palate is selectively lush, and the rotating set of players—both recorded and live—patiently flesh out Elders' haunting vocals and evocative lyrics. (STREET DATE - 4/19/2014)