Beware and Be Grateful

Beware and Be Grateful is the second studio album by Maps & Atlases, released in 2012 by Barsuk Records.

Beware and Be Grateful
Studio album by
ReleasedApril 17, 2012
Length42:44
LabelBarsuk Records
Maps & Atlases chronology
Living Decorations EP
(2011)
Beware and Be Grateful
(2012)
Lightlessness Is Nothing New
(2018)

Track listing

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Original release
No.TitleLength
1."Old & Gray"5:44
2."Fever"5:05
3."Winter"4:32
4."Remote & Dark Years"2:49
5."Silver Self"6:31
6."Vampires"2:43
7."Be Three Years Old"3:08
8."Bugs"3:11
9."Old Ash"5:05
10."Important"3:56

Reception

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic71/100[1]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [2]
The A.V. ClubB+[3]
Paste Magazine7.7/10[4]
Slant     [5]

The album has a score of 71 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 20 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reception.[6]

In a positive review for The A.V. Club, Chris Mincher highlighted the record's "fluidity," "airy harmonies, polyrhythmic melodies, and inventive time-signature experiments," stating that "Beware and Be Grateful has plenty to please both casual listeners and angular-prog purists (assuming such people exist)."[7]

Conversely, a review from NME weighed Beware and Be Grateful's technical aspects and layered songwriting against its emotive capacity:

"Maps & Atlases are back with an energetic collection of intelligent pop. This time around, the band’s obsession with complex rhythms is channelled though layers and layers of melody ... What’s missing is any emotional contrast to stop all that cleverness from sounding overwhelming."[8]

Travis Persaud of Exclaim! similarly praised the album's production value while lamenting its lack of grounding pathos: "The songs are engaging and incredibly catchy, but lack emotion ― that intangible quality that will take this feel-good record and give it staying power. It's a step in an interesting direction though."[9]

Further reading

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References

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  1. ^ "Reviews for Beware and Be Grateful by Maps & Atlases". Metacritic. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
  2. ^ Monger, Christopher. "Beware and Be Grateful – Maps & Atlases". AllMusic. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
  3. ^ Mincher, Chris (17 April 2012). "Maps & Atlases: Beware and Be Grateful". The A.V. Club. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
  4. ^ Reed, Ryan. "Maps & Atlases: Beware and Be Grateful". Paste Magazine. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
  5. ^ Cataldo, Jesse. "Maps & Atlases - Beware and Be Grateful". Slant Magazine. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
  6. ^ "Maps & Atlases - Beware and Be Grateful". Metacritic. Retrieved July 6, 2020.
  7. ^ "Maps & Atlases - Beware and Be Grateful". The A.V. Club. 17 April 2012. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
  8. ^ "Maps & Atlases – 'Beware And Be Grateful'". NME. 13 April 2012. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
  9. ^ "Maps & Atlases - Beware and Be Grateful". Exclaim!. Retrieved April 6, 2018.