Written in Paris while the city was still reeling in the aftermath of the November 2015 attacks, Mapping the Rendezvous is an album that brims with escapism and the irrepressible desire to live for the moment. Part of the the band's previous album, 2014's Concrete Love, was also written in the French capital but this time it was different: frontman Liam Fray got under the city's skin, and the band created an album that exudes the freedom and intensity of being young in an intoxicating city. Produced by long-time collaborator and recently recruited bass player Joe Cross, this album is the band's most buoyant effort yet. Early in the Courteeners' career they sounded like a small-scale band pretending to be stadium fillers, but Mapping the Rendezvous is a glossier, more commanding effort that befits the band's arena-filling status. The thoughtful paean of "Most Important" sits comfortably alongside the commanding strut of "The 17th", while "No One Will Ever Replace Us" forms a glittering high point on the intensely forward-looking album. It's impossible not to be swept away by the unshakeable positivity and live-for-the-moment ethos that engulfs this album.
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