Performer Notes

Much has been made of Deerhunter frontman/Atlas Sound mastermind Bradford Cox's struggles with Marfan Syndrome--perhaps because it's easy to imagine such a chronic condition encouraging the kind of psychedelic bedroom-pop experiments that predominate on LET THE BLIND LEAD. There's a subtle menace to the record that vaguely recalls latter-day Radiohead, and suggests that Cox may be sifting through some struggles of his own, yet that trouble never overtakes the disarming beauty that bursts through these noisy cuts. Cox's vocals are generally overdubbed into incomprehensible, mantra-muttering oblivion, melting into his music and adding an equally beguiling organic layer to the artificially constructed sonic mania that is Atlas Sound. LET THE BLIND LEAD, if nothing else, makes a case for less time spent on the road and more locked in one's room with solitary side projects.

Professional Reviews

Spin (p.96) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he music wraps itself in a shoegaze gauze. 'Quarantined' melds distorted Flaming Lips-style drums to twinkling nimbuses..."

CMJ - "[A] 14-track fuzzed-out journey through space....Your inner senses seem to be awakened, heightened, and sharpened with each densely layered moment."

Mojo (Publisher) (p.112) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "His gently mantric vocals and concise, evocative lyrics drift through layers of treated instrumentation and ambient electronica..."

Harp (magazine) (p.104) - "Cox knows just when to let his vocals rush in and remind us of his beating heart..."

Paste (magazine) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Cox blends rock instruments with organs, harps and his haunting, languid voice, and the result is a gentle, richly textured wall of sound."

Clash (magazine) (p.118) - "The vocals often drift into the electronic wave of noise, becoming part of a wonderful whole, a mesmerising musical stream of consciousness, challenging and beautiful."