Philadelphia based art-folk duo @ (pronounced ‘at’), share new single ‘Punish My Mind’ from debut 4AD album Autosmile, out on 16 October.

Dystopian Beach Boys-esque track ‘Punish My Mind’ is an expertly arranged song complete with fluttering woodwinds, raucous distorted monkey howls, dense harmonies and intricate chord progressions over which @ sing about the twin instincts to punish and comfort oneself, eventually envisioning a pristine state of pure acceptance. As the band says: “‘Punish My Mind’ is a chill song about self-torture that’s maybe the oldest recording on the album. It has a fat wind arrangement and a lot of vocal harmonies. We hope you like it.” The single arrives alongside a video shot and edited by the band’s Stone Filipczak.

‘Punish My Mind’ follows the nearly 7-minute title track ‘Autosmile’, which claimed Pitchfork’s ‘Best New Track’ among other wide-spread acclaim. In June, the band kicked things off with a free rooftop show in Brooklyn, and just this past weekend hosted garden performances in NYC and at home in Philadelphia.

@ also recently released a live performance of latest single ‘Autosmile’ recorded at Widow Jane Mine, a disused mine based in Rosendale, New York. The video is directed by Caity Arthur. More videos from this session are soon to come.

Multi-instrumentalist songwriters Victoria Rose and Stone Filipczak have a pact, a devotion to each other and to the music of @. In their solo existence, Victoria works as a beekeeper and Stone as a self-taught computer programmer, but when they get together, they become a singular, avant-garde song force. On their new album Autosmile, the band’s first with 4AD, @ have harnessed their unique process to reimagine the psychedelic folk tradition as an undeniably contemporary art form, carefully balancing beauty and pain and shifting between black hole heaviness and patient understanding, never abandoning a sense of wonder.

Both Victoria and Stone are incisive, classic songwriters, and their occasionally-baroque arrangements and production touches give the songs a rough-hewn yet virtuosic quality. This inventiveness, applied to songs that hold up against classic psych folk records, sets @ apart, somehow looking backwards and forwards all at once. There is a consistent darkness to the moods of Autosmile, but @ is also an inherently playful enterprise, unexpected prog flourishes lurking behind incisive indie rock song craft.

@ TOUR DATES

18-20 September – PHILADELPHIA, PA, USA – Making Time

1 October – SEATTLE, WA, USA – Chop Suey ^

2 October – VANCOUVER, BC, CANADA – The Fox Cabaret ^

3 October – PORTLAND, OR, USA – Mississippi Studios ^

5 October – BERKELEY, CA, USA – Cornerstone ^

6 October – SAN DIEGO, CA, USA – Soda Bar ^

9 October – LOS ANGELES, CA, USA – Lodge Room ^

27 October – CHICAGO, IL, USA – Thalia Hall [SOLD OUT] *

28 October – CLEVELAND, OH, USA – Mahall’s *

30 October – TORONTO, ON, CANADA – The Concert Hall *

31 October – MONTREAL, QC, CANADA – Bar Le Ritz P.D.B. [SOLD OUT] *

2 November – BOSTON, MA, USA – Royale *

4 November – WASHINGTON, DC, USA – The Atlantis [SOLD OUT] *

5 November – PHILADELPHIA, PA, USA – First Unitarian Church [SOLD OUT] *

6 November – NEW YORK, NY, USA – Webster Hall [SOLD OUT] *

9 November – PARIS, FR – Point FMR

11 November – BRISTOL, UK – Exchange

12 November – LEEDS, UK – Lending Room

13 November – GLASGOW, UK – 1990

14 November – BIRMINGHAM, UK – Hare & Hounds

15 November – MANCHESTER, UK – Yes Pink Room

16 November – DUBLIN, IRE – Workman’s Club

18 November – LONDON, UK – St Matthias Church [SOLD OUT]

19 November – LONDON, UK – St Matthias Church

21 November – AMSTERDAM, NL – Cinetol

22 November – LEEUWARDEN, NL – Explore The North Festival

23 November – BERLIN, DE – Kantine Am Berghain

24 November – BRUSSELS, BE – Botanique

 

^ w/ YHWH Nailgun

* w/ This is Lorelei

Image provided by Ingmar Chen