While Bradford Cox’s past solo work as Atlas Sound explored introversions through loops and reverberations, in bringing together the carefully imagined collection of spontaneity that is Logos, he set sights outward and zeroed in on expansive intimacies through barely tethered daydreams. Most of the songs were written during the same period he and his band Deerhunter wrote their exquisite Microcastle LP, and much of the music on Logos was born of inspiration found in friends on tour and opportunistically captured in single takes. Cox, his looping pedal, guitar and sampler are still at the center of things, but contributions from Sasha Vine of Sian Alice Group, members of Stereolab and Noah Lennox (AKA Animal Collective’s Panda Bear) help him find a new vibrancy to his solo approach.
‘Walkabout’, the collaboration with Lennox is the product of a tourbus game the bands played to stave off transit induced boredom and, based around a Drovers sample, spryly bounces along with a peppy organ lead and layered vocals. Vine’s contributions to ‘Attic Lights’ give the song a brittle countenance that is hard to escape, while ‘Quick Canal’ finds Cox taking a nine-minute sojourn through dream-hop territory accompanied by ethereal vocal work from Stereolab’s Leticia Sandier. The outside influences seem to have rubbed off as even the moments Cox created without the assistance of his notable compatriots sound lively and open. ‘Shelia’ is a ringing ballad about life’s true values, while songs like ‘Kid Climax’ and the title track bath Cox’s reflective prose in ringing guitars, flashing synths and active rhythms. While his work with Deerhunter remains impressive, Cox allows himself the most freedom while writing as Atlas Sound, and on Logos his risks are all rewarded.

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