@ Builds Autosmile at Home, Then Takes It Out on the Road
@ Turns a Philadelphia Home-Built Sound Toward Autosmile
The band name is one character. The work behind it is not.
Philadelphia psych-folk duo @ — pronounced “at” — released “Bird” on September 15, offering another look at Autosmile, the pair's 11-song album arriving October 16 through 4AD. The record marks Victoria Rose and Stone Filipczak's first album for the label.
For a project stepping onto the international platform of 4AD, the origins of Autosmile remain remarkably close to home. Rose and Filipczak made much of the album themselves using a modest recording setup, later expanding the sessions with close friends contributing cello, violin and drums.
That process fits a musical partnership in which the boundary between two songwriters is deliberately porous. Rose and Filipczak write individually but regularly finish, reshape and contribute to one another's compositions. Across their work, intimate acoustic songwriting can give way to psychedelia, electronics and unexpected arrangements while retaining the character of two musicians building songs together.
Now based in Philadelphia, @ brings that small-scale working method into a significantly larger release operation with Autosmile.
From Home Recording to 4AD
The physical edition of Autosmile extends the record beyond streaming and digital distribution. The band's Bandcamp preorder includes a brown-vinyl LP packaged with a 12-by-12-inch screenprint and a signed 8-by-10 photograph, alongside a CD edition. Both are expected to ship around the album's October 16 release.
It's a physical presentation that suits a project built around individual detail. Vinyl, printed artwork and signed photographs turn the album into something tangible at a time when most new music reaches its audience without ever becoming a physical object.
“Bird” is the third advance track from Autosmile, following the title track and “Punish My Mind.” Its beginnings are as unusual as some of the duo's music.
According to the band's account of the song, Filipczak began thinking about “Bird” after dead baby birds appeared on his deck. The idea developed further during a bicycle ride through Baltimore's Druid Hill Park, eventually becoming part of the material that would make up Autosmile.
The album stretches the duo's songwriting across 11 tracks: “Punish My Mind,” “Autosmile,” “Bird,” “Too Much Love,” “I Love a Girl,” “You Live,” “Cut to Pieces,” “Get Me Out,” “Whatever,” “Nature's Best” and “Where'd You Go.”
Philadelphia Before the Road
The release is arriving alongside a growing live schedule.
@ is scheduled to appear at Making Time in Philadelphia on September 18, followed by fall dates that include another hometown appearance at the First Unitarian Church on November 5.
The band's newly announced 2027 headline tour then begins where much of this story has developed: Philadelphia.
Rose and Filipczak are scheduled to open the headline run January 16 at the First Unitarian Church Sanctuary before moving through cities including Washington, Brooklyn, Boston, Toronto, Detroit, Chicago and Minneapolis.
It's a significant progression for music created through such an intimate process. Songs assembled between two writers and a circle of trusted collaborators are moving from home recording spaces to physical production, an established independent label and a headline tour extending beyond Philadelphia.
That growth doesn't erase where the record came from. If anything, Autosmile demonstrates how little the starting point of an independent record needs to resemble the infrastructure eventually carrying it into the world.
For Philadelphia, that's part of the story worth watching. @ isn't simply passing through town behind a national release. Rose and Filipczak are building from here, carrying a distinctly personal recording process outward while Philadelphia remains part of the project's working identity.
@ releases Autosmile October 16, 2026 through 4AD. “Bird,” “Autosmile” and “Punish My Mind” are available now.
