On Atlas Sound’s Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel, singer Bradford Cox has created a masterful bedroom album that casts the listener into the pathos of his subconscious. Washes of distortion and electrofuzz sift over minimalist layers of mallet percussion and create a hypnotic and textured sound that is not so much conventional songwriting as it is a series of sonic explorations. Indecipherable vocals weave around stutters of electronic beats, handclaps, and the sound of breathing as Cox repeats lines in a manner both emotional and disconnected. Despite this experimental sprawl of sounds, the album is a surprisingly easy and inspiring listen.
From the child’s voice that opens the album to the ambient metallic washes of the album’s final (and title) track, Cox layers sound to paint vivid pictures of introspection and nostalgia. In “Quarantined,” Cox moans about isolation over a lulling marimba figure as backing oohs and ahhs drift through a backing field of reverb. In “Ready Set Glow,” an aggressive electro figure gives way to a strummed guitar and glockenspiel. Elsewhere, as in “After Class,” ambient layers of fuzz swish back and forth between the speakers as indecipherable vocal lines weave in and out of the wall of sound.
In spite of this sonic pathos, Cox manages to keep the music from becoming a self-indulgent mess. His voice maintains its emotional charge throughout, and the ambient textures are refreshingly balanced with elements of garage rock that break the listener from the album’s hypnotic lull (and occasionally reference Cox’s noisier project, Deerhunter). In “Recent Bedroom,” melodic, reverb-drenched vocals float over poppy, arpeggiated guitar chords and a simple drumbeat. “Ativan” is wonderfully catchy, lo-fi garage rock, complete with reverb-y low vocals and surf guitar tone that play off of one another over lines like “Lunch with a girl with hair as soft as baby oil.”
On Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel, Atlas Sound has created an intellectual and wildly innovative sound. The album’s textured layers and inventive production result in a work as refreshing and unique as anything to come out within the last year. Underlying the clutter of textures and distortion is beautiful music teeming with introspection and emotion, music that puts the listener directly within the head of the artist. |