Atlas Sound

Bradford Cox AKA Atlas Sound released his album ‘Logos’ on 4ad about a month ago. It is a scuzzy lo-fi record that echoes with atmosphere and is heaving with songwriting invention. You would be forgiven for thinking this guy likes Pavement…

A couple of weeks ago he played an intimate gig at Cargo where he turned up alone save for Laetitia Sadier who popped up at the beginning with her enchanting vocals for Quick Canal accompanied by her 10-year-old son with some crazy dancing. The crowd loved it.

In the absence of his backing band, Cox’s set ended up pretty much acoustic, which although sounds dreary (a couple of his tunes did miss the synth touches of the album) it was saved by his masterful use of pedals to loop multiple guitars riffs and his occassional tendency to rush to the back of the stage to drum over it. It was quite impressive.

On the whole the songs sounded great (Sheila was especially brilliant) but it was some of the onstage chat that made the gig particularly memorable. It went something like this…

“You guys are great. This is just like playing at my house and hanging out. I am going to text my Mom.”

“When I get jet lag I get diarrhoea… so if I have to go off, you know why.”

“The rest of the band couldn’t come. They had to go back to their day jobs.”

“Here is one I made up on the plane.” (which sounded amazing by the way)

“Does anyone want to request a song? What about Pavement? I think I know it… I think it’s an A… Or was it a G?… Er…”

“When I was younger me and my friend were playing in my Mom and Dad’s room and we found a gun. When my Dad came home he caught us and took us into the forest… and waved the gun in my face.” (Walks off)

Photography by Amadeep Chana