Maps & Atlases, a progressive math-rock group, is headed to Tucson to perform for the release of their newest album, Perch Patchwork, on July 23 at Club Congress.

The band formed in 2004 when Shiraz Dada, Chris Hainey, Dave Davidson and Erin Elders met at Columbia College in Chicago while attending art school. They formed a unique style that is hard to define but has gained a multitude of descriptions. When guitarist Erin Elders was asked to define the band’s music, he was momentarily stumped by the question.

“”If we had to describe it as something, we would use the term progressive pop or something like that,”” Elders said.

The group got their rather peculiar name from an old advertisement. “”It said ‘the nation’s biggest publisher of maps and atlases,'”” Elders said. “”It felt very applicable to the way we were writing (music) at the time.””

“”It’s not like we have one driving influence of the album. Everyone in the band has their own influence,”” Elders said.  According to Elders, the influences of classic rock, ‘70s bands, Motown and soul left their imprint on Maps and Atlases’ style.

Maps and Atlases will debut their newest album on tour this summer. The album was created in 2009 with band members writing, composing and recording music for it. Barsuk Records released the album on June 29, and Fat Cat Records will release it in Europe this September.

“”We were able to bring in song ideas that were pretty much flushed out structurally and find the main core of the song. Then, we would start layering, taking apart, and putting it back together,”” Elders said.

According to the Fat Cat Records’ website, the album is a “”densely textured, exhilarating body of work that sees the band creating intricacies in songwriting”” and the result of a “”gorgeous, complex, slightly skewed take on pop music.””

The band will return to the desert for a night of unconventional pop-oriented music in town on July 23.