Bradford Cox Makes Return as Atlas Sound for First Show in Seven Years

Bradford Cox revived his project Atlas Sound for his first show in seven years at Philadelphia’s Making Time ∞ festival over the weekend.

Atlas Sound was announced as a surprise lineup addition a little more than a week before the festival began; Cox last performed with both Atlas Sound and Deerhunter in 2019. His Making Time set consisted of entirely new songs, with Cox singing and playing bass, hand bells, and a sampler throughout the performance. He began the show with a happy birthday message to his mother, Edie, and also shouted out Making Time founder Dave P for booking him: “Thank you to Dave for having me because if it weren’t for him, I might’ve stayed at home for another seven years.” According to attendees, Cox also handed out setlists and lyric sheets for the new tunes after the performance, even signing them for fans.

The songs, based on fan-captured recordings, have a meditative hue, with some taking influence from Eastern instrumentation and several tracks featuring multi-layered, dense soundscapes. Watch a video of his Making Time performance below.

Atlas Sound’s most recent full-length album was 2011’s Parallax. Cox remained active throughout the 2010s with Deerhunter, whose latest album was 2019’s Why Hasn’t Everything Already Disappeared?, though he has largely remained out of the spotlight in the years since.

Atlas Sound @ Making Time ∞ – September 20th Setlist:
Octoberland
Arcadia
Akron
Day For Night
My Ship Sank In Daylight
Come And See
Roots Without A Tree
Kora