Unsearchable by Design: Philly Duo "@" Turns Obscurity Into a Signature Sound on Their New Album

Victoria Rose recently got slapped with a citation—trespassing and public drinking—for visiting a secret swimming spot in West Philadelphia. It's a creek tucked behind an old mill, overgrown and snake-ridden, that she'd been going to for years. This time, the property owner dropped the charges, but it also means she can never go back. That damp, feral quality of the place is pretty much the source of the murky, claustrophobic mood running through the music she makes with Stone Filipczak in their psych-folk duo "@" (pronounced "at").

The name "@" is both a joke and a deliberate choice. In an interview with The FADER's GEN F, Filipczak admitted that picking the name was "not a very deliberate decision at all"—they just decided on it and later "got stubborn about it." Even after people kept urging them to change it, the two refused. Rose says she likes the effect: "You can kind of locate us online by the fact that we're unsearchable." That same "if you know, you know" mystique carries over into the performance clips they post on social media—playing guitar in abandoned mines, in overgrown gardens.

The two met in 2017 through Boston's DIY scene, officially formed "@" during the 2020 lockdown, and self-released their debut album *Mind Palace Music* the following year—folk harmonies layered over warped digital production and MIDI tones, the whole thing carrying that patchwork feel of pandemic-era isolation. In 2024 they put out the hyperpop-leaning EP *Are You There God? It's Me*, then signed to 4AD. Their sophomore album *Autosmile*, out October 16, marks their first time working within a major label system.

Doing Everything Themselves: Habit and Principle Alike

"We've always been a super controlling band, because we do everything ourselves, mix everything ourselves, and we're obsessive about every single thing that goes out," Filipczak says. "Now we have to hand over some of that control, whether it's to people at the label or to journalists, and honestly it's been a learning process. The music has become bigger than us." Rose adds that there's something particularly appealing about playing small shows and running things on a small scale—it lets you keep more control over your own work.

*Autosmile* continues the intimate, hazy sonic texture of *Mind Palace Music*, but brings in more musicians this time—cello, violin, drums, all played by friends, which is just par for the course in West Philly's DIY music scene. "Living here, you're pretty much never short of any kind of musician," Rose says. "You probably know someone who can help realize whatever idea you have." Filipczak says the album was deliberately kept within the tonal world of their debut, to make a cohesive body of work; the single "Punish My Mind" reveals his taste for prog rock, and during production he was listening heavily to the black metal band Agriculture, which pushed him to "embrace the darker side of my musical taste."

The tracklist ranges from the stripped-down cello-and-flute arrangement of "Earthly Love" to the layered density of "I'm Not In Pain" and the title track "Autosmile," where the two of them handle vocals and guitar alongside keyboard, clarinet, flute, and the Turkish traditional long-necked lute, the saz. Filipczak says that handling nearly every part of production themselves like this "isn't unheard of, but it's definitely not common at the scale we're operating at now in this industry."

Outside of the album, the two still have to juggle day jobs for income. Rose admits her current full-time job still leaves her "honestly struggling to cover living expenses," while Filipczak recently switched to contract work—no benefits, but more flexibility to take time off when needed. Talking about the upcoming release, he says, "Sometimes when I think about how everything's going to work going forward, it genuinely makes me feel a little breathless." *Autosmile* comes out October 16 via 4AD.