Bradford Cox
American singer-songwriter and musician (born 1982)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bradford James Cox (born May 15, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter and musician, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the indie rock band Deerhunter.[6] Cox formed Deerhunter with Paul Harper and Dan Walton in 2001. To date, the band has released eight studio albums along with several singles and EPs.
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Bradford Cox | |
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Cox in 2009 | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as | Atlas Sound |
| Born | Bradford James Cox May 15, 1982 |
| Origin | Atlanta, Georgia, United States |
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| Occupations |
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| Instruments |
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| Years active | 2001–present |
| Labels | |
Cox also pursues a solo career under the moniker Atlas Sound, a name Cox has used since he was ten to refer to his own music.[7] Cox has released three full-length productions under this name: Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel (2008), Logos (2009), and Parallax (2011). Cox's method of creating music is stream of consciousness, and he does not write lyrics in advance.[8]
Music career
Deerhunter
Cox founded Deerhunter with bassist Paul Harper and drummer Dan Walton, who named the band, in early 2001.[9] The band expanded after Cox met a teenage transient, Moses Archuleta, who was sleeping on the floor of Cox's friends. Archuleta initially played Ace Tone Organ and electronics. The band's first shows were experimental and based on improvisation. Cox continued recording slightly more structured material and releasing it on CD-R and cassette using the name Atlas Sound. Harper was soon replaced by Justin Bosworth. Colin Mee had also joined the band on guitar around this time. Walton eventually left the band and Cox suggested Archuleta move to drums. The band's live shows and recordings became more song-oriented. They recorded their debut 7" for Die Slaughterhaus.[10] Josh Fauver joined the band on bass in 2004 after Bosworth died in a freak skateboarding accident. This four-piece lineup recorded Deerhunter's debut self-titled LP (2005) on Atlanta-based label Stickfigure Records.[10]
Cox suggested Lockett Pundt, whom he befriended while attending Harrison High School in Kennesaw, Georgia, join the band on guitar so that he could concentrate on vocals and electronics. This five-piece lineup recorded their breakthrough album, Cryptograms (2007). Mee then left the band after failing to show up for a North American tour.[11] As a four-piece again, the band subsequently released Microcastle (2008), Weird Era Cont. (2008), and Halcyon Digest (2010). Fauver then left the band and was replaced by Josh McKay on bass.[12]
The band now consisted of Cox on guitar and vocals, Pundt on guitar and occasional vocals, McKay on bass, and Archuleta on drums for both albums Monomania (2013) and Fading Frontier (2015). The band announced in 2018 that Fauver had died unexpectedly.
Deerhunter's most recent album, Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared? (2019), saw Javier Morales join the band playing a plethora of instruments such as the piano, tenor saxophone and bass clarinet. The band have remained inactive since the tour for Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared?
Atlas Sound
Atlas Sound is the musical solo project of Cox, although he has used the name to represent his music from a young age.[13] This name is derived from the brand of cassette deck he used.[14] Cox would use two tape decks, which he used to layer guitar and drum sounds, and his own voice.[13] In listening to some of these old tapes, of which Cox believes he has over five hundred in storage, he found "Some of it is absolutely, terrifyingly bad, but sometimes I'm just like, 'Wow, that's cool'. That's actually how some Deerhunter songs happened. 'Spring Hall Convert' [from Cryptograms] was like that. That was a tape I made in ninth or tenth grade". Cox writes his music using a stream-of-consciousness method by not writing lyrics in advance and constructing songs by adding more parts until he feels "it's getting crowded".[15] Cox's early musical inspirations were The Stooges, Sonic Youth, Stereolab and Steve Reich among others.[16]
Cox began Atlas Sound in the wake of his work with Deerhunter, saying "I have ideas that I can't make work with a five-piece rock band... There's kind of this palette of sounds that I use that I don't necessarily get to use with Deerhunter".[17] Because the music Deerhunter makes is a collaborative effort, Cox does not want to assert himself as its principal songwriter. "I might have an idea for a fragment of a song, but I want to leave it skeletal so the guys can fill it out. Whereas with Atlas Sound, everything is done in an hour".
In late 2010, Cox published four volumes of demos on his blog, entitled Bedroom Databank.[18] These demos were taken down from MediaFire by Sony Music, but they later apologised to Cox, stating that the files "were mistakenly removed".[19]
Atlas Sound was chosen by Animal Collective to perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival that they curated in May 2011.[20]
Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel
Cox released his first solo album Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel on February 18, 2008 on Kranky in the US and on 4AD in Europe.[21] The songs were recorded on Ableton Live using an array of computer-based instruments, as well as his own live recordings.[22] The lyrics of Let the Blind Lead are autobiographical in nature, reflecting life experiences of Cox.[22]
Logos
An unfinished version of Logos was leaked onto the internet in August 2008.[23] In response, Cox almost ceased production on the record, later saying "I did not react well to the leak, in retrospect. It became the kind of internet-fueled drama that I was quickly learning to despise".[24] Logos would eventually see an official release on October 19, 2009 on Kranky in the US and on 4AD in Europe.[25]
In discussing his Logos, Cox characterised his first as being a "bedroom laptop type thing" and "very introverted". In contrast, Logos was written in several parts of the world, and is "not about me. There are collaborations with other musicians. The lyrics are not autobiographical. The view is a lot more panoramic and less close-up. I became bored with introspection".[24]
Parallax
Cox released his third and most recent album Parallax on 7 November 2011 on 4AD.[26] In an interview with Spin, Cox described the recording of the album as, "very exhausting to make, even though it was comfortable and detached. It is the loneliest record that I've ever made".[27] After Parallax was recorded, Bradford Cox continued touring with Deerhunter, which ended up being so stressful for Cox that it caused him to have a nervous breakdown.[28] The artwork features a photograph of Cox taken by Mick Rock, who had previously shot photographs for albums such as Raw Power, The Madcap Laughs, and Transformer.[29]
Other work
Cox has also recorded as part of other bands, such as the short lived "Wet Dreams", an otherwise all-girl garage / noise band in which he played drums. He also recorded several tracks on the Black Lips second album We Did Not Know the Forest Spirit Made the Flowers Grow (2004), playing drums on the song 'Notown Blues' from that album.[30]
He also is a part of the "Avant-Garage" band Ghetto Cross, with Cole Alexander from Black Lips, Frankie Broyles, and Asha Lakra.[31]
Cox contributed to the Karen O-scored soundtrack for the 2009 Spike Jonze film Where the Wild Things Are.[32]
In November 2012, it was announced that Cox would portray Jared Leto's lover in the 2013 feature film Dallas Buyers Club, co-starring Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner.[33]
In September 2019, Cox collaborated with Cate Le Bon, releasing a joint EP titled, Myths 004.[34]
In July 2025, Cox hosted a two-part set on NTS Radio titled, Bradford Cox: Summer and Smoke Pt. 1 (Day) and Pt. 2 (Night).[35]
Equipment
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Guitars
For the most part, Bradford favors vintage and modern Fender and Gibson guitars. Some of his guitars include:[36]
- Fender Jaguar (1964 Fiesta Red, Formerly owned by Stereolab's Tim Gane)
- Fender Jazzmaster (1966, Block Inlays Originally white, has aged to a yellow color)
- Fender Stratocaster[37]
- '74 Gibson Les Paul Signature[38]
- Fender Bronco (70s stripped natural finish)
- Teisco Del-Rey EV-2, Humbuckers, Blue (possibly modified)
- Various Gibson Acoustics
- EKO 60's 12 String Acoustic
- Epiphone Small Body Acoustic strung in "Nashville Tuning"
Effects and amplifiers
- Pedalboards
Bradford Cox's Deerhunter Pedalboard as of 2016 Tours.[36][39][40]
1966 Fender Jazzmaster into – (signal chain as follows)
- Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner
- Fairfield Circuitry Unpleasant Surprise (Used for Lead Parts, Noise)
- Henretta Engineering Chord Blaster (Used For Overdrive)
- Eventide PitchFactor
- Behringer Reverb Machine RV600
- Ibanez CF7 Chorus / Flanger (Rarely Used)
- Ibanez DE7
- Line 6 DL4
- Boss Noise Suppressor
Out to Fender Hot Rod DeVille 4x10
Cox also uses an exposed spring reverb tank / filter unit for noise and effects
Vocal effects pedal board Beyerdynamic M69 microphone into:
- Digitech DigiVerb (through mic for backwards vocals only)
- Digitech DigiDelay (through mic for vocal loops only)
- Eventide MixingLink preamp / FX loop
- Amps
When playing live with Deerhunter, Bradford previously used Univox U-1226 Head into a vintage Marshall 4x10 Cabinet. He has also used a Marshall JCM800 half-stack, and occasionally a 1970s Peavey Classic combo amplifier. He currently uses a Fender Hot Rod DeVille 410.[36]
Songwriting
Cox describes his mode of songwriting as 'automatic or stream-of-consciousness'. "Usually I go into a sort of trance and I'll have five or six songs afterwards", he said, speaking to Victoria Segal of Q in November 2010. "What is interesting is seeing how the band adapts them and mutates them into the final product. Lots of accidents and primitive irrational things happen. It can be difficult trying to explain the process to a producer or engineer. They generally want to help you polish things and I tend to want to sabotage that", he added.[41]
Personal life
Cox was born with the genetic condition Marfan syndrome.[2] As a teenager, he dropped out of high school (although he later earned a GED) and his parents divorced, leaving him "to live in my childhood home alone. I literally lived in this large suburban house by myself." Cox has called his changing musical taste while growing up reflective of his life and mental state. Around the age of ten, his Marfan syndrome began to affect his body in more visible ways; this is the point at which he "first started looking awkward." With no friends, Cox became interested in how music could sound "heartbreaking or nostalgic or melancholy"; he identified with the title character of the 1990 film Edward Scissorhands, and especially enjoyed the soundtrack, which was composed by Danny Elfman. Cox's tastes shifted to music that was more "monotonous or hypnotic", such as the Stereolab album Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements (1993). Around twenty years of age, his life situation brought about "a period", during which he became "only interested in this certain sort of suburban psychedelic pastoral thing. It was escapism. I didn't want as much emotional manipulation. It's kind of the opposite of Edward Scissorhands."[42]
Cox has described himself as gay,[43] though he previously has stated that he leads a non-sexual/asexual lifestyle.[44][45] However, in a 2011 interview with Rolling Stone, Cox said that he no longer identifies as asexual but rather as queer: "For a long time I just said I was asexual, but now I just realized that… I'm still, I guess… I mean, I'm queer. I just sort of, don't really have a very big self-esteem, so asexuality is sort of like a comfort zone where you don't get rejected."[46] Cox stated in an October 19, 2016, radio interview: "There's so many types of sexuality, but one that I think is overlooked is to be asexual. I am absolutely asexual. I am a virgin at 34 years old."[47] In 2019, Cox confirmed that he was still a virgin.[48] Cox also identified as non-binary in a 2019 tweet.[49][50]
In December 2014, Cox was hospitalized after being hit by a car in Atlanta.[51]
Discography
With Deerhunter:
- 2005 Turn It Up Faggot
- 2007 Cryptograms
- 2008 Microcastle
- 2008 Weird Era Cont.
- 2010 Halcyon Digest
- 2013 Monomania
- 2015 Fading Frontier
- 2019 Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared?
As Atlas Sound:
- 2008 Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel
- 2009 Logos
- 2011 Parallax
With Cate Le Bon
- 2019 Myths 004[34]
