• Record Label: 4AD
  • Release Date: Nov 8, 2011
Metascore
82

Universal acclaim - based on 34 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 31 out of 34
  2. Negative: 0 out of 34
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  1. Nov 7, 2011
    80
    It's a quietly satisfying album with a determined fragility that makes it all the more moving.
  2. Nov 7, 2011
    87
    Parallax feels like a more complete work than any other Atlas Sound record, with the differences between the songs less distinct and everything flowing together more naturally.
  3. Nov 8, 2011
    90
    It's a fitting conclusion to a near perfect album that finds an artist expanding his musical palate without sacrificing an ounce of himself in the process.
  4. Uncut
    Dec 12, 2011
    60
    Dreamy, classic-sounding pop nuggets, sung by Cox with a wry, casual authority. [Jan 2011, p.79]
  5. Mojo
    Jan 12, 2012
    80
    It's a record best consumed in a semi-recumbent position, in order to match the loping, laidback pace of the music and Cox's stoned, oak-aged vocals. [Dec. 2011 p. 99]
  6. Q Magazine
    Dec 15, 2011
    80
    Some tracks are more outre than others... but throughout his sustained, idiosyncratic vision is absorbing. [Dec. 2001 p. 123]
  7. Nov 8, 2011
    70
    Cox values songwriting ahead of texture these days, and the effort is paying off.
  8. Nov 2, 2011
    80
    This is easily the most satisfying and rewarding set of songs that Cox has written in any of his projects and it'll be a tough ask to top it.
  9. Nov 2, 2011
    70
    While too restrained overall to match the tie-dyed brilliance of Logos, Parallax's subtle charms demonstrate that Cox's musical id is still alive and kicking. [Oct 2011, p.96]
  10. Nov 17, 2011
    80
    There's always been an otherworldly quality to Bradford Cox's solo recordings as Atlas Sound, but on his third studio album it comes across with more unsettling clarity than ever.
  11. Nov 3, 2011
    80
    Moments of genuine marvel, each one craving its own flowery descriptives, come thick and fast.
  12. Nov 8, 2011
    91
    It's a brilliant feat: to make a record about distance, Cox has written the most effortlessly approachable music of his career.
  13. Nov 2, 2011
    90
    A sci-fi tint shifts the perspective from Atlas Sound's usual layered introspection: Inner space now has become outer space.
  14. Nov 7, 2011
    76
    Parallax is Cox's third proper album under the Atlas Sound moniker, possibly his best so far, and certainly the one that contains the band's most straight-laced pop to date.
  15. Nov 9, 2011
    90
    What makes Parallax a fully realized album is, in contrast to its compact musicality, the expanses and voids Cox explores.
  16. Nov 9, 2011
    70
    After the impulsive creativity of Logos, Parallax, by contrast, is a much more refined listen.
  17. Nov 2, 2011
    70
    Though it often finds him treading familiar ground, Parallax is the first record in which Cox fully embraces the role of a magical-realist storyteller, recounting dreamily desolate tales as much to himself as to his audience.
  18. Nov 10, 2011
    60
    It's a slight little album about fascinations, and a product of them, too, which, whether you share those fascinations or find them boring, is perfectly fine.
  19. Nov 8, 2011
    80
    Thankfully, such peeks of inhibition are brief, and Cox spends far more time confidently beckoning us into the glorious world he's created. For the first time, this is a place where we're to be cohabitants, not merely invitees.
  20. Dec 8, 2011
    80
    There are shades of classic 50s-style crooning in Cox's vocals, but his voice has a sublime spectral quality that adds a lingering disquiet.
  21. Nov 9, 2011
    90
    Cox sounds comfortable and confident, and has made the best solo album of his prolific career.
  22. Nov 8, 2011
    60
    Parallax, unrealised masterpiece or not, sounds like the man in his bedroom with a thousand songs to leave unexplained.
  23. Nov 7, 2011
    80
    Parallax is easily Atlas Sound's best-sounding album to date.
  24. Nov 11, 2011
    80
    It sounds like a recipe for a dozen buzz bands this year, but Atlas Sound transcends the fads. Melodies shine through like faint stars through the window.
  25. Nov 28, 2011
    80
    Its songs strum and muse, with Mr. Cox's instruments and voices often doubled and slightly staggered, to dizzying stereo effect.
  26. Nov 2, 2011
    80
    Parallax being Cox's most coherent record to date, it's harder to spotlight individual tracks, but individual settings stand out.
  27. Nov 8, 2011
    76
    With each Atlas Sound release, the sonic effects become more interwoven, intense and impressive, and truly no one else could be writing these songs the way Cox does.
  28. Nov 10, 2011
    66
    Though it's fun, pretty, well-constructed, and hits the buttons, those very facets are in danger, in the absence of Cox's beautiful vulnerability, of becoming what this sound is all about.
  29. Nov 10, 2011
    77
    As his catalogue continues to accumulate faster than just about every other artist out there, you can feel him growing more confident in himself and the ideas he bases his music on. Parallax can't help but feel like a win for this cause because it symbolizes growth more than out-and-out excellence.
  30. Nov 15, 2011
    80
    Gentle introspection--instead of the outright melancholy he often exudes--paired with sway-worthy melodies make Parallax the most listenable Atlas Sound album to date.
  31. Nov 11, 2011
    90
    There's always something a bit fresh to the way Cox decides to articulate his musical notions, and this album shows that regardless of the ways his influences and ideas phase around each other, the impressions he presents are among the most appealing to be found.
  32. Nov 23, 2011
    70
    Even though we get Cox at his most nakedly audible on Parallax, however, it still feels like he's putting on a show, or imitating someone else.
  33. 63
    Yet even when relying less on atmospheric synths and playing with a full-band set up ("The Shakes"), Parallax misses early rock's tautness and grit.
  34. Parallax is one of the best albums I've had the pleasure of hearing all year.

Awards & Rankings

User Score
8.5

Universal acclaim- based on 37 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 34 out of 37
  2. Negative: 1 out of 37
  1. Nov 10, 2011
    8
    Parallax by Atlas Sound aka Bradford Cox aka the-man-fronting-Deerhunter comes as a nice surprise. I expected a neurotic record of ambient andParallax by Atlas Sound aka Bradford Cox aka the-man-fronting-Deerhunter comes as a nice surprise. I expected a neurotic record of ambient and loudness (just think of Quick Canal featuring Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab from 2009 terrific Logos) from the über-prolific musician but no. Instead, Mr. Cox presented us with twelve croons, equally charming and hypnotic. Oh, and his best yet. Atlas Sound may finally feel at ease with himself but the truth lies much deeper. As usually, Bradford sings mostly about Bradford (and his demons). But Parallax is listed as â Full Review »
  2. Nov 8, 2011
    10
    The boy is on a roll of releases with Parallax being the absolute peak. Cox really has come into his own by letting his vocals take front seatThe boy is on a roll of releases with Parallax being the absolute peak. Cox really has come into his own by letting his vocals take front seat on this record, as opposed to the ethereal dreamscapes of Logos. Full Review »
  3. Nov 14, 2011
    10
    Great album, I love Deerhunter and when I saw Bradford Cox had released a new album with his side project Atlas Sound I got very interested inGreat album, I love Deerhunter and when I saw Bradford Cox had released a new album with his side project Atlas Sound I got very interested in hearing it. Full Review »