Atlas Sound - Logos (2009) Vinyl

Over the past eighteen months or so, Bradford Cox and his Deerhunter bandmates have bestowed a seemingly continuous stream of listening material upon the world, whether it be the Microcastle/Weird Era Cont. double release, their Rainwater Cassette Exchange EP, or one of the associated solo projects - Lockett Pundt's Lotus Plaza and Cox's own Atlas Sound. This second full-length release under that moniker finds the Deerhunter frontman reaching new heights, conceiving sophisticated alt. pop fare as if it were the easiest thing in the world. From the writing right down to the slightly unsettling, muffled production, the standard of Cox's material is just exceptional.

It doesn't hurt that Stereolab's Laetitia Sadier and Animal Collective/Panda Bear fellow Noah Lennox are on hand to assist: the former lends a vocal to the kosmische dream-pop epic 'Quick Canal', while the latter mindmelds with Cox for the absurdly brilliant 'Walkabout' - a direct cross-polination of Deerhunter and Person Pitch's 21st century Brian Wilson-isms that's stuffed to the rafters with joyful exuberance. It seems all the more remarkable that these tracks aren't even clear-cut standouts; the record is almost uniformly marvellous, with the Broadcast-like waltz of 'My Halo' and the swooningly romantic riffology of 'Sheila' proving every bit as triumphant. A contender for being one of the year's very finest albums - which seems to be the default setting for all things Deerhunter.