Victoria Rose arrives at Philadelphia’s 30th St Station and apologises for the sticky streaks covering her car’s interior. She’s a beekeeper, and it’s just propolis, a resinous sealant for gaps in the hive. Her bandmate, Stone Filipczak, is riding shotgun, and her protective gear occupies the rear passenger seat.
We’re heading to one of their favourite spots, an Ethiopian restaurant that doubles as a venue. The dining room quickly gets boisterous – a challenge for our interview given that Filipczak and Rose are relatively soft speakers, and not wildly keen to divulge specifics about the music they make as @. Like Rose’s bees, they’re a secretive and self-sustaining pair.
As you might guess, @ is pronounced “at”. The name, Filipczak explains, came from “a vision of an @ sign on a kick drum head”. Not that they have any need for one: @’s art-folk is rooted in acoustic guitar, woodwinds and vocal harmonies that furrow and frolic.
Their fantastic second album, Autosmile, is their first with the venerated indie label 4AD. (The name is a reference to a meme showing a dopey sunflower: “When you and gang faded and auto smile gets turn on …”) Rose offers a concise summary of Autosmile’s themes: “Turmoil, processing and acceptance.” They don’t always know the context behind each other’s songs, either. 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 met while living in Boston, where both had moved to attend college, though Filipczak quickly dropped out.
Each was active in the city’s DIY scene: Rose was making solo acoustic music as Brittle Brian, while Filipczak hailed from noise and experimental scenes. They were introduced through mutual friends. He had run there, wearing leggings covered in lightning bolts.
He remained there during lockdown, passing the days skateboarding and recording music. Rose was still in Boston, working at a farm with plenty of time to spare. They reconnected and began sharing works-in-progress material.
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