The enigmatic freak-folk duo @, pronounced "at," releases their second album, Autosmile, on 4AD on 16 October, a record built on acoustic guitar, woodwinds, and vocal harmonies that emerge from a deliberately private and remote working method. The pair, Victoria Rose and Stone Filipczak, met in Boston, reconnected during lockdown, and have crafted a sound that has drawn comparisons to Animal Collective and Jessica Pratt, all while maintaining a carefully guarded personal and creative space.
A Duo Defined by Distance and Privacy
Victoria Rose, a beekeeper, and Stone Filipczak, who goes by Stone Rosenberg, live in Philadelphia, yet they wrote and recorded Autosmile separately from their homes. "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 explains, "and that includes Stone."
The duo's name, @, is a tough Google, a deliberate choice that mirrors their elusive nature. Filipczak says the name came from "a vision of an @ sign on a kick drum head." Their music, however, is rooted in earthy, art-folk traditions, with a sound that evokes the gently strange, freak-fried folk of Animal Collective's 2005 EP with Vashti Bunyan or the music of Linda Perhacs.
From Boston DIY to a 4AD Deal
The pair met in Boston, where both had moved for college, though Filipczak quickly dropped out. Rose was making solo acoustic music as Brittle Brian, while Filipczak hailed from noise and experimental scenes. Their first hang was at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, where they looked at taxidermied animals. "I was a little nervous to talk to you because you were really looking at everything," Rose recalls. Filipczak, who had run there wearing leggings covered in lightning bolts, adds, "It's so to my taste. Dead animals and stuff – that's the type of museum that would hold my interest, looking at actual, real things."
They fell out of touch when Filipczak returned to Baltimore in 2017. During lockdown, he passed days skateboarding and recording music, while Rose worked at a farm in Boston. They reconnected, and Rose wondered if Filipczak could add soft drums to one of her songs. That song became Star Game, the start of their long-distance collaboration that led to their 2021 debut, Mind Palace Music.
Autosmile: Turmoil, Processing, and Acceptance
Rose offers a concise summary of Autosmile's themes: "Turmoil, processing and acceptance." The album's title references a meme showing a dopey sunflower with the caption "When you and gang faded and auto smile gets turn on …" The record is open to the possibility that darkness can always be tinged with light or levity. For instance, Punish My Mind is about the ouroboros of discipline and pleasure, but comes down on the side of play thanks to a recurring sample of a shrieking primate.
The duo don't always know the context behind each other's songs. "We're close enough friends that we can infer," Filipczak says. "It's better if we give each other a little bit of space and don't crawl up each other's asses around every lyric." This approach extends to their songwriting, which leaves 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 explains. "If the song starts out in a hyper-individualistic place, it's not really going to be able to make that jump."
A Sleeper Hit and a New Direction
Mind Palace Music became a sleeper favourite among indie fans by the time @ played their first show in 2022. Representatives from the Washington DC indie label Carpark were in attendance and reissued the album the next year. "We were like: 'All right, I guess this is a band now'," says Filipczak.
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. It's enchanting, unassuming yet hypnotic, with compositions that are expansive and unfurl with greater intention. The nearly seven-minute-long title track is a tender ballad built around the duo's intertwined vocal melodies and guitar playing, with candid yet ambiguous lyrics: "I don't know how I belong to you but I do somehow / I don't know how I came to stand up to you but I have no doubt."
Local peers Nina Ryser and Garrett Burke (Gloorp) contributed to several songs on the album. The conceptual hive mind, like bees building their home, points to collective creation leading to something greater than the sum of its parts. Autosmile is released via 4AD on 16 October.
