Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox has revived his Atlas Sound project for its first announced concert in seven years, performing at Philadelphia’s Making Time festival on 20 September. The surprise solo appearance matters because both Atlas Sound and Deerhunter have largely been inactive since 2019, marking Cox’s return to live performance after years away from the public eye.

Cox performed for around 30 minutes, playing bass, hand bells and a sampler while debuting eight previously unreleased songs. He opened with “Happy Birthday” for his mother’s 80th birthday and later distributed signed lyric sheets and setlists marked “DRAFT”; Atlas Sound’s latest studio album remains 2011’s Parallax, while Deerhunter’s most recent record is 2019’s Why Hasn’t Everything Already Disappeared?.