Atlas Sound Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel by: Steve Scully Tue:19-Feb-08 Label: Kranky Year: 2008 WB rating 30 out of 100

Temptations come in many forms. Ice cream, flirtatious glances and shiny new electronic gadgets all share one thing: that they are often the objects of temptation. In the music world, more precisely the ‘recorded music’ world, temptations abound also. Don’t you think it would sound good with a little reverb? A little delay? Turn my bass up! We’ve heard it all. Something we’ve heard just as much is the painful: “let’s chuck a bad sample in here, that’ll sound awesome!” And so, we’re forever stuck with hundreds of albums beginning with movie quotes, spoken word poetry and other audio clips that really, only serve the purpose of satisfying an under-developed sense of the ‘dramatic’. If this is the crime, then Bradford James Cox (aka Atlas Sound) is the perpetrator.

After the little boy tells his ghost story in the sampled opening track, Atlas Sound break into another little rock cliché: jumping readily into a now-waning genre. The guitars have more effects pumping through them than Ms Winehouse has crack, and the shoegazing is taken to the extreme in ‘Recent Bedroom’. The lyrics are painfully Gen Y: “I walked outside/I could not cry/I don’t know why/I don’t why…” Again, in ‘River Card’ the vocals are almost accidental, they’re so low in the mix: it’s about the sound, though, for Cox, not the substance, and on this point Atlas Sound are winners. The usual instrumental make-up is infused with organ and harp, creating a quiet little atmospheric tempest of sound.

There’s very little organic about Atlas Sound’s music. Whilst at the heart of the concept there sit very tangible and human messages of heartbreak, loss (‘Recent Bedroom’ is about Cox’s recently-passed Grandmother) and isolation, there is little to any clear human presence on the record. The vocals are so heavily fiddled with that emotion is only evident if the lyrics are comprehended. For example ‘Cold as Ice’ has a huge back story, (just look at the Wikipedia page dedicated to the album) but this eludes all who don’t desire such research, as the lyrical content is merely five nonsensical lines: “Walk into the back room, back room/ Walk into the back room, back room/ Cold as ice, cold as ice/ Waiting there/ Cold as ice.” While this lack of accessible emotion might very well be in line with the ultimate aim of the record – that perhaps the artificiality of it all, the reverb and effects, smothering the fragile humanity, echoes Cox’s plight in society and within himself – Let the Blind is unfortunately just not an enjoyable record to listen to, and any true effect is lost on a first-timer.

Cox may have satisfied his desire to vent on Let the Blind, but in cases such as this you wonder about the reasoning behind the recording of these tracks. If, for you, music is about communication and expression, not just art, you might find Atlas Sound’s to be among your most hated albums. Artistically, Cox has pulled out all the stops, integrating harps, organs, dulcimers and almost any other esoteric wank he can lay his hand on, only to render them obsolete by spreading the reverb on like a fat kid with Nutella. It is most likely that Let the Blind will wash over you, leaving little residue, and will in no way affect your life, or guide your emotions. Pointless and too damn introspective, Cox’s album is one of self-discovery, self-expression and onanism; that’s all well and good, I say, but you’ve got to let the audience in on the fun at some point!