Download

Late last week, Pitchfork once again utilized its tap on Deerhunter's four-track to unveil a recently recorded song from frontman Bradford Cox's Atlas Sound project. Supposedly written for and rejected by girl-group legend Mary Weiss, this cover version of a new-ish track by Canuck songsmith Mark Sultan is Cox's first stab at a straightforward slow dance. The fuzzy ambience that blankets his main band's records is lapping at the edges, but the chord progression is classic and gentle. His sometimes aggressive enunciations are curbed as well, singing soft and clear into a tear-stained baby-doll gown.
Lyrically, it starts on "Since the day that I was born, so many things have let me down," and then continues a quick descent into abject depression. However, as Mary Weiss should have known, lost hope in song is often much prettier than its sunny opposite. With its vaguely familiar melodies and faraway vocals, "Unicorn Rainbow Odyssey" resembles nothing so much as an alternate universe Panda Bear track crafted solely for cynics. As a card-carrying club member, I'm trying hard to suppress a swoon.