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

Bradford Cox resurfaced his project Atlas Sound for an inaugural performance in seven years at Philadelphia’s Making Time ∞ festival. The news of Cox’s return as Atlas Sound was a surprise, announced just a week prior to the festival’s commencement. Seven years had passed since Cox performed with both Atlas Sound and Deerhunter in 2019.

During his set at Making Time, Cox played an entirely new set of songs, accompanied by bass, hand bells, and a sampler. He commenced the performance with a heartfelt birthday message to his mother, Edie, and also expressed gratitude to Making Time founder Dave P, saying, “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 festival-goers, Cox distributed setlists and lyric sheets for the new tracks after the show, signing them for fans. The songs, sourced from fan-captured recordings, exude a meditative vibe, incorporating elements of Eastern instrumentation and featuring dense, multi-layered soundscapes. A video of Cox’s performance at Making Time can be viewed below.

Atlas Sound’s last full-length album was 2011’s Parallax. While Cox continued to be active with Deerhunter throughout the 2010s, with their most recent album being 2019’s Why Hasn’t Everything Already Disappeared?, he largely kept a low profile in the subsequent years. The setlist for Cox’s Making Time performance includes: Octoberland, Arcadia, Akron Day For Night, My Ship Sank In, Daylight, Come And See, Roots Without A Tree, and Kora.