“Found money and fame/ But I found them really late,” laments Bradford Cox on “The Shakes,” Parallax’s opening track.  Cox may have found these things recently with the success of Deerhunter’s 2010 LP Halcyon Digest, but his solo project, Atlas Sound, has yet to gain the substantial following of his more-famous group.  But that should change with the release of Parallax, the third album released under the Atlas Sound moniker.  Digest may have marked a transition of Deerhunter to ethereal dream-pop, but Parallax takes that sound to the next level.  Relying on Cox’s morose lyrics and the ambient sound backing his vocals, Parallax creates an atmosphere of alienation that invites the listener in and leaves them reeling after it’s all over.

Parallax is the most cohesive Atlas Sound album yet; songs transition fluidly from one to the other for the whole 48-minute run time.  That is not to say that Parallax lacks variety, though.  Songs such as the opening track “The Shakes” and “Mona Lisa” have a (relatively) upbeat pop feel to them. “Terra Incognita” becomes just Cox and an acoustic guitar halfway through, abandoning the backing band but losing none of its emotional resonance in the process.  The album as a whole has a feeling of containing just the bare essentials, that any added effects or editing would have distorted its meaning and tainted its purity.

It’s really a testament to Cox’s ability that he can keep writing at such a prolific pace. Parallax marks his 7th album in four years between Atlas Sound and Deerhunter.  But as Cox sings on the concluding track “Lightworks,” “Everywhere I look/There is a light/And it will guide the way.”  Hopefully Cox continues to follow the light, because it has taken him and us listeners to amazing places unique from anything else today.

9/10

By: Nick Golding

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