We previously featured Map of the Woulds for confronting chaos with psychedelic irony and activist spirit on The Old Songs, so when we found out that they were back with Bali Breeze, we had a feeling that we might be in for an adventure.
Bali Breeze opens with a cinematic and intricate guitar soundscape with escapist, soft, folk rock notions. We deeply connect with the masterful instrumentation and the sonic universe that manifests with a spiritual edge. The syncopated hand drums and percussion add a tropical sentiment to the piece.
We could imagine Bali Breeze being featured in a film like Eat Pray Love, or Ticket to Paradise, but also a potential future season of The White Lotus on HBO. The lyrics themselves are simple and resonate like a mantra, “Bali breeze caress your sides, gazing up at tangerine skies, would you play it off, or lie, what you paid for paradise…”, again fitting the references above but also painting a cinematic image of the world-famous Indonesian island.
Poignantly released on the Summer Solstice, the song is designed as “a wistful reminder of the havoc we wreak in our search for paradise.” This message is zeitgeist and reflects on a much larger, global scale with deep-rooted intentionality. We learn that the track was recorded at Rosewood Studio and Ed Shot Studio, with mixing and mastering by Adrian Woods.
We love the psychedelic prog rock edge that manifests, and can imagine that fans of The Eagles and Bob Dylan would be able to connect with what Map of the Woulds have created this time. The band consists of Woody Frank (guitar and voice), Andrew Woods (bass and voice) and Adrian Woods (drums and voice).
They tell us that Woody, Andrew and Adrian formed Map of the Woulds in 2019 with “a focus on song-writing and making challenging ideas pop-palatable”. Needless to say, we continue to be in awe of what the trio bring to life, and have added Bali Breeze to our New Music Spotlight playlist, and our TIMELESS playlist, whilst we continue to stream Map of the Woulds‘s exquisite, growing discography.