Marc Ribot – Map of a Blue City [Indie Exclusive Limited Blue LP]

When she was a child and he a young father, Marc Ribots daughter drew a map of a city in deep, rich, vivid blue. When he praised her blue map, she corrected him: It’s not a blue map, but a map of a blue city. That distinction stuck with him and eventually inspired a curious song called Map of a Blue City.

Map of a Blue City ruminates on what it means to be lostthe confusion and fear, of course, but also the excitement of so many undreamt-of possibilities. Its history is an odd map of its own, full of false starts, blind alleys, dead ends, and one inconceivable tragedy, all leading to what may be his definitive statement as an instrumentalist, as a songwriter, and even as a singer. While its not a singer-songwriter album, it is his first to center his plaintive, wise voice quite so prominently.

Map of a Blue City bears the weight of its history gracefully, incorporating recordings made over nearly half of Ribots life and reflecting on how