Atlas Sound - Logos

Bradford Cox - the man behind Atlas Sound and the lead singer of Deerhunter - is a highly prolific artist, we can all agree on this. Within just over a year and a half Bradford has released two LPs and an EP with Deerhunter and a solo record as Atlas Sound, along with countless free downloads posted on his blog. In light of this remarkable rate of production, the obvious worry is that Cox is sacrificing some degree of quality in favour of quantity. And occasionally this does seem to be the case – last year’s Atlas Sound LP, Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel, contained a considerable amount of filler, feeling somewhat rushed as a result. But Bradford’s work with Deerhunter is a completely different story – their crowning achievement so far, Microcastle, is without a doubt one of the best indie albums of the naughties.

So here we have the latest addition to this fast growing back catalogue. And from the word go it feels like Bradford has set out to prove that Atlas Sound can be more than just a dull laptop-bedroom-side-project. On Logos’ opener, The Light That Failed, acoustic guitars rise and fall behind Bradford’s eerie vocals, creating a stunning soundscape that instantly surpasses anything from Atlas Sound’s previous album. The song itself is simple – variations on a central vocal melody as the musical backing gradually builds and then recedes – but the atmosphere of this piece, its stillness and poise, is truly arresting.

But this is a dangerous game to play; a lot of Bradford’s songs in the past have walked a fine line between beauty-in-simplicity and banality, with a handful inevitably falling on the wrong side of this subtle divide. And, unfortunately, it is no different here – My Halo’s overly-simplistic melody and production (not to mention terrible lyrics) will have most questioning its worth.

Despite this misstep, Bradford’s substantial skill as a songwriter, curiously absent from his previous work as Atlas Sound, is emphatically confirmed on Logos. Shelia, with its Pixies guitars and catchy chorus, is one of the best pop songs Cox has ever recorded. Indeed, this album (even in its atmospheric moments) is far more extroverted than LTBLTWCSBCF; Bradford no longer obscures his vocals in layer upon layer of reverb and his songs here are much more structured and refined. This shift is epitomised by the guest appearances on Logos (Walkabout features Noah Lennox and Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier sings on Quick Canal) – confirming that Atlas Sound is no longer Cox’s outlet for self-indulgence.

More than just a gimmick, these guest appearances result in two of Logos’ most successful songs. Walkabout is endlessly catchy, sounding more like Panda Bear than anything else, and Quick Canal is a towering composition of kraut-rock beats, shoegaze guitar and Sadier’s striking vocals. These songs do present a problem to Logos however – Cox has taken such a back seat on these collaborations that they end up sounding little like the music surrounding them and really disrupt the otherwise impeccable flow of the album.

With Logos, Bradford Cox has given us a glimpse of what Atlas Sound can (and hopefully will) achieve in the future. Logos might not be Microcastle but it does represent another strong statement from a man who is fast becoming one of this generation’s most important musical artists.

Listen now on Spotify

Tom