The art-folk duo @, pronounced “at”, have released their second album Autosmile, their first with the venerated indie label 4AD. The album’s themes are “turmoil, processing and acceptance”, according to band member Victoria Rose.
A Secretive and Self-Sustaining Pair
Rose and her bandmate Stone Filipczak are a secretive and self-sustaining pair, not wildly keen to divulge specifics about their music. Their un-Googlable name came from “a vision of an @ sign on a kick drum head”, Filipczak explains.
Their art-folk sound is rooted in acoustic guitar, woodwinds and vocal harmonies that furrow and frolic. The duo met while living in Boston, where both had moved to attend college, though Filipczak quickly dropped out. They were introduced through mutual friends and first hung out at the Harvard Museum of Natural History.
Long-Distance Collaboration
They fell out of touch when Filipczak returned to his native Baltimore in 2017. During lockdown, they reconnected and began sharing works-in-progress material. Rose wondered if Filipczak could add some soft drums to one of her songs. That song became Star Game, and the start of the long-distance collaboration behind their 2021 debut, Mind Palace Music.
By the time @ played their first show in 2022, the record had become a sleeper favourite among indie fans. Representatives from the Washington DC indie label Carpark were in attendance and reissued Mind Palace Music the next year.
Recording Separately
Both bandmates lived in Philadelphia while making Autosmile, but they still wrote and recorded separately from home. “Various people tried to ply us with studio time,” Filipczak says. “It didn’t work.” Their setups are simple, and each appreciates the time, space and privacy. “It’s easier to get something to where you want it to be when nobody’s watching you,” Rose says, “and that includes Stone.”
While their 2024 EP, Are You There God? It’s Me, @ was proggy and processed, Autosmile is an acoustic guitar record in the vein of their debut. The compositions are expansive and unfurl with greater intention, including the nearly seven-minute-long title track, a tender ballad built around the duo’s intertwined vocal melodies and guitar playing.
Amid so much diaristic songwriting elsewhere, @ want to leave room for interpretation. “That’s kind of what folk songs are, something that can travel from person to person and be played by many different individuals,” Filipczak says. Autosmile is released via 4AD on 16 October.
