In the world of free internet music, Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox is a god. Not only does he share personal playlists and unreleased covers on his blog, but last year he also unintentionally posted a link to a folder of unfinished tracks he’d been recently working on. That collection of songs was the premature version of Logos, the second full-length album of Cox’s solo project, Atlas Sound. Now completed, ready for release, and strikingly different from the leak, Logos displays a pleasant mix of ghostly instrumentation and distant, echoing vocals that prove it worthy of—gasp—being paid for.
The eleven-track album kicks off with a three-song suite, showcasing several of the trademark moods and styles that Cox has been known for, both as a soloist and with his full-time project. The beautifully melancholy opener, “The Light that Failed,” utilizes found sound (swishing water!) underneath well-stacked acoustic guitars, and barely pauses before transmuting into the breathy but more conventional “An Orchid.” The trio ends with “Walkabout,” a sunny duet with Animal Collective’s Noah Lennox (Panda Bear) over a brilliant sample of The Dovers’ 1960s nugget “What Am I Going to Do.” Cox toured with Lennox during the album’s creation process, and the song’s toe-tapping beat and optimistic mood display his influence, with only an interruption toward the middle for few seconds of static-y noise, which reminds you that this is an Atlas Sound album.
The guest appearances don’t stop with Lennox. In the eight-and-a-half-minute “Quick Canal,” Cox sings backup for Latetia Sadier, the high-voiced frontwoman of 90s Krautrock stalwarts Stereolab. The result is convulsing but gentle, with the vocals floating amid ethereal, amorphous background noise and a contrastingly steady beat. The song’s soothing nature is complemented a few tracks later by “Kid Klimax,” where a creepy keyboard sample and distorted repetitions of the phrase “oh my god” make for an unnerving listen. But despite the variety of different moods and visitors Cox brings into the record—and the potential for a confused, disjointed feeling—Logos is united by its consistently fluid feel. Water sounds everywhere.
Voice’s Choices: “Walkabout,” “Sheila,” “Quick Canal”
