Summary
- ‘Octoberland’ is the first Atlas Sound song in 15 years — Bradford Cox’s solo project had been dormant since ‘Parallax’ in 2011.
- The single is out now on 4AD with a black-and-white video directed by Cox himself.
- It follows his first live performance in seven years at Making Time in Philadelphia on September 20, where he debuted eight new songs; 2027 festival dates include Big Ears, Kilby Block Party and Primavera Sound.
The return nobody had on their 2026 bingo card is real. Bradford Cox has brought Atlas Sound back from a 15-year silence with ‘Octoberland,’ a sparse, slow-burning track about witches burning and a virus that flies every night — released, fittingly, right at Halloween.
The comeback started on stage: on September 20, Cox played Philadelphia’s Making Time festival — his first proper performance in seven years — and performed eight entirely new songs with hand bells, bass and an SP-404. ‘Octoberland’ was one of them. The studio version arrives with a self-directed black-and-white video: a single continuous zoom on a figure covered in papier-mâché.
No album has been announced yet, but Atlas Sound is booked for Big Ears in Knoxville in April, Kilby Block Party in Salt Lake City in May and Primavera Sound in Barcelona in June 2027, with Deerhunter bandmate Lockett Pundt joining the live band. The basement karaoke machine kid from Atlanta is officially back.
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