If you recognise the ambient noisescapes and tuneful vocals of the new Atlas Sound album, Logos, this is because it is the softer, younger sibling of the band Deerhunter and side project of prolific music maker and front man of the latter, Bradford Cox (with fellow Deerhunter member, Lockett Pundt). The album is all mellow, floaty vocals tweaked with echo and distortion, over easy lo fi beats, repetitive refrains and endearing beeps and bleeps. It’s the kind of music that would accompany a slo-mo, sun drenched run through a cornfield or the moment of suddenly becoming absurdly high.
Atlas Sound actually pre-dates Cox's involvement with Deerhunter, being the name he used when recording tracks on a karaoke machine all the way back in sixth grade. Cox sites the influences for this project as 'doo-wop and girl groups' and the music is definitely quieter, more cheerful and less male the big bad relative Deerhunter. Although you can still see the family resemblance pretty clearly, Cox can’t resist a good dose of ambient noise.
The tone of the album varies from the haunting sound of tracks like An Orchid to the so-mellow-it-hurts vibes of The Light That Failed and Washington School with its cartoony beats and pretty bell samples. Logos is probably the most up beat track on the album and could happily provide a soundtrack to an acid-infused wagon train across a Wild West film set. According to Cox, Atlas Sound exists as a vehicle for the ‘palette of sounds’ he just cant use with a band like Deerhunter. It’s hard to tell direction Cox will take his side projects in next but I can’t imagine a musician with such a discerning palette would stop at just one.
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