Logos Does Atmosphere Right
Atlas Sound’s Latest Keeps the Songs in Focus
Atlas Sound
Logos
Released on Oct 20, 2009
Making good atmospheric pop music is something that must be difficult to do. So many practitioners of the genre seem to get caught up in a deluge of reverb and delay, hiding subpar melodies underneath layers and layers of dense sonic fog. Done poorly, atmospherics act as little more than a crutch propping up lazy songwriting, muddling everything and hoping the listener doesn’t get wise to what’s going on.
Thankfully, Atlas Sound’s Bradford Cox is not one of these musicians. Though Logos is definitely an album rooted in atmospherics and a generally hazy feel, its application is usually enhancing rather than masking, adding to an already present tone rather than attempting to make boring songs more interesting. The melodies on Logos are presented airily but cleanly, with every guitar strum given the opportunity for full resonance. Most of the manipulation at work on Logos comes in the form of warbling, phase-shifting, or otherwise distorting vocal lines, an interesting trick that drives the vocals deeper into the mix and helps keep lyrics and chords unified in a cohesive whole. The result is an album that straddles the line between chamber- and psych-pop, depending on how rowdy each individual track gets.
Album highlights include “Walkabout”, a bouncy, 60’s pop-style collaboration with Animal Collective’s Noah Lennox (perhaps better known as Panda Bear) that is surprising not only for its joviality but for also for the relatively straightforward songwriting. “Quick Canal” also provides a successful collaborative effort, with Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier adding vocals over a pulsing drum and synth framework. And “Attic Lights”, a change-of-pace acoustic ballad, provides a nice, minimalist palate cleanser in an otherwise heavily ornamented album.
Overall, Logos manages
to be what a lot of atmospheric pop fails to be: an album of well-crafted
songs that puts the music before the atmosphere. Rather than getting
caught up in trying to fit a certain feel, Cox applies a minimalist’s
touch, adding space when necessary or effective while always remaining
true to the songs themselves. And while Logos is not a spectacularly
good album Such allegiance to the music in an era of bells and whistles
– or, perhaps more appropriately, bloops and bleeps – is encouraging.
High Point
“Walkabout” was a huge surprise. Understated, fun, gleeful; it’s an example of good solid pop songwriting, regardless of genre.
Low Point
“The Light That Failed” is kind of a timid opener for an otherwise energetic (relatively speaking) album. If nothing else, choosing another song to begin the album might have been more fitting.
Posted by David Sitrick on Oct 22, 2009 @ 6:00 am
