Bradford Cox is known as the leader of Deerhunter, but he chose to pursue a parallel solo career under the moniker of Atlas Sound. And at the beginning of November he released his third proper album as Atlas Sound, a record drenched in solitude, embracing themes of loneliness and desperation even in its most rocking moment.
The whole record is dedicated to Trish Keenan, the singer of Broadcast who died of pneumonia at 42 on January, 11, 2011. Cox explained: “She’s the epicentre of the album; she suggested all of it. She said, ‘Why don’t you make a science-fiction album?’. She turned me on to a lot of British science fiction and she talked a lot about androgyny. When I was recording this album, I was always like, ‘What would Trish think?’ Sort of like how my sister is always wondering, ‘What would Jesus do?’ – although I don’t worship Trish. She just had that older-sister wisdom. She wanted me to dye my hair blond. I laughed and said, ‘I don’t think so, I’m more into Neil Young and radical honesty’. And she was like, ‘Yeah, but anyone can do that’. I tried contacting Trish through automatic writing – I don’t know if that sounds crazy, but there have been a lot of personal situations I’ve gone through recently that really made me doubt myself and be confused, and she would have been the first person I’d call. She would just tell me what the fuck is up. I don’t have her to call anymore, and it makes me sick. And the same goes for Jay [Reatard] he haunted Halcyon Digest”.
Cox is a peculiar character, made of contrasts: he can be, reclusive, camera shy and reserved or larger than life, confrontational and in your face. He also invented a new genre called “codie rock”: “I hate indie culture. I am not an indie rock musician – I don’t even know what the fuck that means. I’m not independent. I’m co-dependent. ‘Codie rock’ – co-dependent rock. For the fuck-ups, I’ll always be there. That’s the only position I know how to fill. Obviously, I try to be better adjusted, but it’s futile“.
You can read a long, revealing interview with Cox here.
