Atlas Sound: Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel

Music Reviews Atlas Sound
Atlas Sound: Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel

Deerhunter frontman makes dense, affecting electronic record

On his debut solo album, Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox fills in the gaps of last year’s brilliant Cryptograms. Let the Blind doesn’t have Cryptograms’ wandering, ambient tracks, nor is it as propulsive. Instead, it’s a personal collage—Cox plays and processes almost all of the parts himself, and many of the lyrics are written in very direct first-person. Let the Blind is the work of a tinkerer fascinated by different sounds and his own ability to manipulate them, and though the lyrics suggest submission and suspicion (“I am waiting to be changed,” “I’m always on guard”), the music is warm. Cox blends rock instruments with organs, harps and his haunting, languid voice, and the result is a gentle, richly textured wall of sound. It could’ve been self-indulgent, but Cox isn’t an insular creative genius. He’s excited by new sounds and combinations, and he wants you to share in his excitement.

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