Philadelphia based art folk duo @, pronounced “at”, have released a new single titled ‘Bird’, taken from their forthcoming debut album for 4AD, Autosmile.
Autosmile is due for release on Friday 16 October via 4AD / Remote Control Records. The album will be the duo’s first release with 4AD.
‘Bird’ opens with acoustic guitar and clarinet passages before moving into choral harmonies. The band describes the song as being inspired by dead baby birds that repeatedly appeared on a deck, with the track written during a bike ride through Druid Hill Park in Baltimore.
The accompanying music video was directed by Caity Arthur. Arthur’s visual approach was influenced by the song’s combination of humour and macabre subject matter, as well as the death of a bird on her own balcony while she was developing the video.
‘Bird’ follows two previously released tracks from Autosmile: ‘Punish My Mind’ and the album’s title track, ‘Autosmile’. The latter runs for nearly seven minutes and was selected by Pitchfork as a Best New Track.
Autosmile features 11 tracks, including ‘Bird’, ‘Love In The Dark’, ‘I Know You Are (But What Am I Thinking)’, ‘Earthly Love’, ‘Your Dog’, ‘Untitled’, ‘I’m Not In Pain’, ‘Punish My Mind’, ‘Judgement Farmer’, ‘Autosmile’ and ‘Amity’.
The album brings together multi instrumentalist songwriters Victoria Rose and Stone Filipczak. Away from @, Rose works as a beekeeper while Filipczak is a self taught computer programmer. Their collaboration draws on psychedelic folk, with the album also incorporating baroque arrangements, indie rock songwriting and progressive flourishes.
The duo have described their songwriting process as deliberately private, with Rose and Filipczak not telling each other what their individual songs are about. Across Autosmile, the lyrics explore themes of adversity and possibility while maintaining the project’s focus on curiosity and wonder.
Alongside the album release, @ have announced a North American headline tour and a new London headline show scheduled for June 2027.
Autosmile will be available on Soil Brown vinyl, CD and digital formats. A special bundle featuring the Soil Brown LP, a 12×12 insert and signed photo print is also available to pre order through Bandcamp and the 4AD webstore.
‘Bird’ is available to stream and download now, with Autosmile arriving 16 October via 4AD / Remote Control Records.
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