Bradford Cox’s return to the stage was already cause for celebration. When Atlas Sound, his long-dormant solo project, was added to the bill of Philadelphia’s Making Time ∞ festival last month, the Deerhunter frontman hadn’t performed live since 2019, save an impromptu noise set at an Athens, GA vintage market in 2023. What few could have predicted was that Cox would debut a whole album’s worth of all-new material. His eight-song set, which I was blessed to experience firsthand, was sparsely arranged—the accompaniment amounted to a set of brass bells, a bass guitar, and Cox’s trusty SP-404—yet transfixing all the same.
Now, you can hear one of those songs in its full-fledged studio incarnation. It’s called “Octoberland” and it also arrives with a haunting music video, directed by Cox himself. Check it out below.
The name Atlas Sound originates from a cassette karaoke machine that a middle-school-age Cox used to create his earliest recordings. Between 2008 and 2011, he put out three albums under the moniker—Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel, Logos, and Parallax—plus the demo collection Bedroom Databank, Vols. 1-4. These records deviated from Deerhunter’s shoegaze and krautrock leanings, placing a greater emphasis on sampling and wall-of-sound pop.
For anyone who missed Atlas Sound at Making Time, fret not: Cox has three more festival dates planned in 2027: Big Ears in Knoxville, Kilby Block Party in Salt Lake City, and Primavera Sound in Barcelona.
Read about Logos at No. 20 in The 30 Best Dream Pop Albums.