Atlas Sound makes dream-like pop. That's not as nice as you might think. Remember, dreaming is rarely pleasant. I, for example, usually dream about filling out paperwork at my job. After the paperwork is done, I enter a note in the excel database that the paperwork has been filled out. It's fucking boring. For some of my friends, dreaming is a relentless terror—a horrifying parade of past anguish and sneering nonsense.

So, Atlas Sound embodies all that's banal and furious about dreaming. Songwriter Bradford Cox smothers his tracks in undecipherable drones, sticky psychedelic textures and lax melodies that seem too stoned to go to the store for Funyuns.

But Mr. Cox explores his delirious dreamscapes because he's looking for meaning. And as our curious guide we get to know his fears and joys. He mostly asks questions, sometimes with huge puppy dog eyes. On his best track, “Walkabout,” he harmonizes with the Animal Collective's Noah Lennox, “What did you want to see? What did you want to be when you grew up?”

And when the questions fail to provide answers, he responds with a pained uncertainty that's specific yet entirely empathetic. “I could have cried, I don't know why” he repeats on  “Recent Bedroom," over a drone that takes it's time to dissolve into tuneless-ness. It's dream imagery and a raw sadness for the whole family.

Atlas Sound plays Neumos on Saturday, Oct 31

Walkabout