It was a weekend during my so called winter break at college. I am currently doing an internship and had to stay on campus all through the winter while my friends all enjoyed each other’s company at their homes. I was alone. Being the only one left in a six person suite, one of probably three people left on my floor, and one of about ten or so in the entire building can really get to a person. Think The Shining but without a Tony to talk to, without an old naked woman to make out with, and without a Big Wheel to get around on. I’m not telling you this for pity, no; I actually enjoyed my time alone. It gave context to what I consider to be the best concert I’ve ever been to. The act was Atlas Sound and of course I went alone.
I’ve been to a lot of concerts, some larger shows, some more intimate, all of varying artistic value and of enjoyability. But never had I been to a sold out concert at what I would call a medium sized venue where everyone went from dancing and having a good time to listening, and I mean really listening to someone. Bradford Cox, aka Atlas Sound didn’t talk much during the concert, but every one of his songs had a bit of a solemn tone to it. Even his most lively numbers, Walkabout, Shelia, and Mona Lisa were done with a subtle helping of depression that could probably best be enjoyed with a pint of Ben & Jerry’s. As I said he barely spoke, but what he did say was topical, and light hearted, bearing no explanation to the tone of the performance, that was until he came to the last song on his setlist, Terra Incognita. Before starting he got up and said something to the effect of “its been about two years since ive been here, and that was to see Broadcast, this song, this tour, and this album are all for Trish.” Bradford was referring to the singer of Broadcast and his longtime friend Trish Keenan, who tragically died of pneumonia well before her time (Tender Buttons was a Goff's Pick of the Week a while back). Then he started playing, and God was it beautiful. Everyone in the room went dead quiet and listened. When it was over no one knew how to react. People just sat there as Cox left the stage and the lights turned on. No one even clapped for an encore, seriously it seemed like there was nothing that could be done to top the heart breaking Terra Incognita. Literally everyone was out of their seats and headed for the door when a frantic Cox ran back on stage and said “wait you can’t leave yet, there is more”. It was magic.
Which finally brings me to what this post is actually about; Cox’s third studio album under the moniker Atlas Sound. Much like the set above that I described, Trish Keenan breathes through every one of the songs on Parallax, and Cox, whether he consciously intended the songs to reflect how he was feeling or not has done a wonderful job of memorializing her. Whats more, despite being his most atmospheric and melancholic album to date it is also probably his most concise, and by far the best collection of songs among any of his other works to date. While his first album Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cant Feel (isn’t that a great album title?) had its hits Recent Bedroom and River Card, most of the other tracks were very ambient swirling pieces that felt more album focused than song centered. His second Logos focused more on songs and had two really great upbeat numbers on it Walkabout and Shelia that well intermixed with other tunes that hit more somber notes. Parallax is a more somber album than either of those two works, but the tracks never really just erupt into noise, or rather when they do erupt into noise, its good noise that doesn’t feel like noise because of high quality of production.
And production is key for atmosphere. It was honestly amazing to hear Cox create those loops live, to play and sing over them like it was nothing, and then to reinterpret the songs to reflect an ephemeral atmosphere. Hearing him live is a serious testimony to what he can do as a producer, by god some of the songs were so different from the album version that people in the crowd didn’t immediately recognize them as fan favorites. The tuned down version of Walkabout a track that Bradford describes as a song he wrote to make people happy was so shockingly beautiful in a saddened context. It absolutely transformed the meaning behind it, turning the “What did you want to be\you want to see\ to be when you grew up” from happy childhood reflection to regretful remorse What’s more is how he treats the songs, instead of opening with a toe tapper he will start with livelier versions of deep cuts, instead of finishing off an encore with a song that everyone knows, he played a fantastic version of an atmospheric song off of Logos called Attic Lights that not only was beautiful but perfectly mirrored the emotional heights of the sets original ending number Terra Incognita and put the song into a very different context. The point Im trying to make here by discussing the live show is that Cox has talent, and it really shows on Parallax.
What works about the album so well is how varied the sounds are. The best songs from it, Te Amo, Terra Incognita, Mona Lisa, and Modern Aquatic Nightsongs, all are sounds that I have never heard out of Cox before (with the exception of Mona Lisa). And despite the variations of his sounds, the album still feels very well tied together by the other tracks which had more of a deep cut feel to them stand better on their than any of the deep cuts on Cox’s other albums. The songs most definitely flow better here on Parallax than on any of his other albums there is a certain amount of stitched togetherness that has otherwise been absent from his discography.
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