This beautiful music collection was composed by Bradford Cox, the lead singer of DEERHUNTER and also known for his solo project ATLAS SOUND, for the 2014 film "TEENAGE" directed by Matt Wolf. Matt Wolf is a New York filmmaker, and his films include “Wild Combination” about a cult cellist and disco producer, Arthur Russell, and his most recent work, a two-part film about artist and performer Paul Rubens, " Pee-wee as Himself," which was out at Sundance 2025.
The film is based on the book "Teenage: The Prehistory of Youth Culture 1875-1945" by John Savage, a music journalist and author of ”England's Dreaming." It's an unconventional documentary film that allows viewers to discover the youth culture of the late 19th and early 20th century with rare documentary footage from that period. Matt showed Bradford only the initial cuts of the film first, and then Bradford made a vast collection of songs in a short period. Matt and the film editor selected songs interacted with the film. Matt said in an interview at that time that he knew he wanted to combine historical footage with the organic, contemporary music of Bradford Cox from early on, and that shows how necessary sound design was to the film.
The album contains 16 instrumental tracks, all composed by Bradford, except for one, “Kate” by CHANDRA, a post-punk band fronted by Chandra Oppenheim, a 12-year-old vocalist who had been singing at The Kitchen, a non-profit arts community space in New York City during the 1980s. The mysterious “Natural Harp Monitor” with the faint soundwave response, “Skeleton Disk Loop” which evokes an era of chaos from the noise and distorted reverb like a vintage projector streaming, and "Snow on Cape" with the bouncy mid-tempo rhythms, centrifugal signal, and drumming that turns into emotional in the outro at the end is daring, and ”New Prairie Blackout" the shining shimmering electronic particles that like floating and blending into the air, "Canopy" makes the mind stir with the disturbing sound world, and the dynamic also trippy "Daphne Duck," the refreshing loop of idyllic and brilliant "Harlem Crepescular," and "Paprika Expose" the fun layering of chunky melodies and lively shakers, "Pastel Ruins," the desolate piece that seems to be gradually disintegrating as the tape reels are spun backward, "Milk Glass Metronome," the sweet, melting, dreamy moods of sound vibrating and spreading in sync, "Planetarium" like opening an antique music box, "Doctor October" the cheerful, joyful, swinging tone, and "Wireless Fantasy No. 1" is the pleasant loop of gentle, and raising the temperature to the warm mood and soaking through supplely with “Dream Logic.” The last song is “VHS Dream (TEENAGE),” romantic and the guitar refrain intertwines with the pulsating heartbeat and flashes of light, and pleasant to the ear, which makes the heart accelerate like an upliftment of teenagers.
There is a full of different kinds of musical elements such as dub, ambient, krautrock, experimental, and playful electronics that seem influenced by Daphne Oram, Laurie Spiegel, Vladimir Ussachevsky, and others, and overflowing with the high musicianship and creativity of Bradford, as he reconstructs modern music while layering a layer of organic tones.
I hope many people will enjoy this album and that it will be widely known and loved for a long time.