Atlas Sound – Logos
Atlas Sound – Criminals
Let me just add my voice to the chorus currently singing the praises of the freakishly skinny (produced by Marfan Syndrome, which I only learned about today 1/8/10), but also freakishly talented Bradford Cox and his new record under the Atlas Sound alias, Logos. Much of the attention placed on this record is focused on the exceptional guest work, with Noah Lennox of Animal Collective on the first single “Walkabout” and Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab on the album’s magnum opus “Quick Canal.” The whole record is really worthy of serious acclaim, in fact it was bloody difficult just choosing two tracks to include here, always the sign of an great record, from this diverse group of songs, which move effortlessly from sublime and dreamy to rockin’ yet creepy and even a couple that are borderline funky.
One of the things that I find particularly charming about Cox is the way he often sings, as he does on this record on “Attic Lights” and “Criminals,” like he really doesn’t want to sing. It’s as if there’s anything other than singing he’d be interested in doing, but sing away he does. It’s a detached style, but it never feels like he’s distant or removed, in fact it has the strange effect of making it all sound much more intimate, though I honestly have no idea why.
As I’ve noted elsewhere, his songwriting style and themes are also simultaneously perplexing and alluring. Case in point, the opening lines in “Criminal,”
This criminal walked into my room,
He asked me, ‘why do you live this way,’
‘Think of all you could have…what I would take.’
We could just take this literally, i.e. that a criminal breaks into the Cox household and is so disappointed in the way Mr. Cox lives that he berates him for not being more successful. That imagery in and of itself should garner enough inspiration for an indie-drama or short film. Even if we don’t take it too literally, we’re still left with a “criminal” who appears to be interested in building the subject up only to steal from him in the end. Sounds like a metaphor for fame or perhaps more specifically the hangers on that come just before or just after fame, or maybe it’s a twisted take on love. The pseudo chorus of “You think that I don’t know” only adds to the mystery of a song with so many levels of brilliance.
You should expect this one to rate highly on my year end list of the top records of 2009, (which I’ll have to start getting to work on any day now…). It’s definitely the best indie rock record of the year, just a year after Deerhunter’s Microcastle made it’s own case for the very same honor.