CD Review: Logos – Atlas Sound [Kranky, 2009]

Although the official release date for this is October 19, I can’t resist the urge to review Logos right now. I’m late for the gatecrashing, but who cares. Logos is one of the best releases of 2009 and that’s all you need to know.

It’s hard for me to decide whether this album is better than Cox’s 2008 release Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel…he describes the latter as “introspective” and Logos as “worldly” and “extrospective”. Let’s put it this way…Let the Blind was a truly solo effort; Logos is a team. You can hear the differences because they are palpable. Cox collaborates with Noah Lennox (Animal Collective) and Laetitia Sadier (Stereolab) on two of the album’s best tracks and this release has a notably sunnier, more nostalgic outlook.

This release has been riddled with dramas–lashing out at the internet, premature leaks, and everything else that seems to have plagued Bradford Cox’s rather pure and innocent desire to express himself through music without regard for profit gains. He’s on the road to becoming the most prolific songwriter since Robert Pollard of Guided by Voices who claims to have penned several songs every day of his waking life. In the works since 2007, it’s been sitting on the shelf for awhile now, and I predict Logos will rocket our Marfan Genius into even more of a legend.

Let’s get past the album cover first. In case any of you don’t already know, Bradford Cox has Marfan Syndrome, a condition in which connective tissue is elongated making for freakishly gangly looking individuals. He is fully aware he looks ill, and after researching comments he has made about the self-loathing he has about his body (“I hate my body just as much as everybody else comments on it or hates it, you know,”) made me feel ashamed about how fixated I was on his grotesquely skinny build the first time I saw Deerhunter. I have to admit though, I had a definite “whoa” reaction when Walkabout started making the rounds on the internet. Namely because I think this album exposes less about Cox’s life than anything we heard on Let the Blind Lead.

Logos is a happier album. It’s nostalgic and evokes the sort of warm and fuzzy feelings someone’s mom or dad might have flipping through their 1960′s high school yearbook. I’m thinking specifically of the superb Shelia that has been stuck on repeat in my head for the past couple of days. “No one wants to die alone”, indeed. Lyrics like this set to catchy riffs = addictive. Logos, Criminals, and My Halo have the same sort of suicidal doo-wop flavour. Quick Canal with Laetitia Sadie is another beauty in and of itself. The instrumental version will blow your mind; the vocal version will skyrocket it out of your skull. In other words, holy fuck this is beautiful.

Much has been made of the jaunty Walkabout already, and although it kind of “fits” into the album I will always think of it as a Panda Bear song with Cox collaborating. An Orchid and The Light That Failed have more of a Let the Blind Lead feel and are another couple of standouts. In fact, with the exception of Attic Lights, this whole album is pretty much 11 superb standalone singles that also play well in the sandbox together. A rare jackpot combo.

I know you are all sick of hearing me gush about it, but I just feel that Bradford Cox and Deerhunter compadre Lockett Pundt have the potential to be the indie-world’s next Lennon and McCartney. Both of their side projects have spawned two of the best albums of 2009 to date, all while touring exhaustively with Deerhunter. Atlas Sound is coming back to Lee’s Palace on October 24, this time with Broadcast, undoubtedly another one of Cox’s musical heroes. I highly recommend you check it out.

About Allison

Crankypants.