Atlas Sound, Bradford Cox's solo project, has released new music. "Octoberland" is the first new Atlas Sound song in 15 years, and it arrives with a haunting music video directed by Cox himself.

The song started onstage. Last month, Atlas Sound was added to the bill of Philadelphia's Making Time ∞ festival, and Cox, who had not performed live since 2019, played an eight-song set made entirely of new material. The live arrangements were sparse: a set of brass bells, a bass guitar, and his trusty SP-404. "Octoberland" is one of those songs, now in full studio form.

The name Atlas Sound comes from a cassette karaoke machine that a middle-school-age Cox used to make his earliest recordings. Between 2008 and 2011, he released three albums under the moniker: "Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel", "Logos", and "Parallax", plus the demo collection "Bedroom Databank, Vols. 1-4". Those records moved away from Deerhunter's shoegaze and krautrock leanings toward sampling and wall-of-sound pop.

Anyone who missed the Making Time set can catch Atlas Sound at three festival dates in 2027: Big Ears in Knoxville, Kilby Block Party in Salt Lake City, and Primavera Sound in Barcelona. No album or headline tour has been announced so far.

The live return came in stages. In 2023, Cox played an impromptu noise set at a vintage market in his hometown of Athens, Georgia. The Philadelphia show was his first proper performance in seven years and his first built entirely from new songs.