The display will take place above the Enterprise pub in Chalk Farm between July 24th–27th, whilst they perform for the first time ever in the UK. The band, having recently emerged from the turmoil created by the Spotify discussion, seems to be unfazed and will be playing their blend of anthemic, soaring falsetto and minimalist carnival electro at the renowned venue.

The group was formed in California 2008, uniting Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ Flea, Becks’ Joey Waronker and producer Nigel Godrich. As is the way with most star spangled projects, many people will have envisioned something quite different to the almost cerebral, trip-hoppy melodies and timbres. The sound is not unlike latter day Radiohead’s ‘In Rainbows’, just a little more sterile.

The name indicates something beyond the music, the microscopic examination of universal love and tranquillity, a notion that is reflected in their bleepy muses. Thus it seems fitting that Yorke and Godrich spoke out last week against stingy royalty payments from the free-music-phenomenon Spotify. Yorke protested that “new artists get paid fuck all with this model” with Godrich corroborating “Meanwhile small labels and new artists can’t even keep their lights on. It’s just not right.” Atom’s for peace took swift action against the company, removing all music from their database. After all, with Spotify handing out 0.4p for a play, 1 million streams would only generate a measly £3,400. At what point does easy access and good exposure become a negative?

Interestingly, the digital music service ‘Soundhalo’, pioneered by Mercury winners Alt-J, will be utilised by the band for their London shows. This device allows fans to view high-quality mp4s of the performance for a price of 99p/song, instead of the “million shaky, horrible sounding YouTube videos already online… the next day” (Godrich). There is potential that the app’s unprecedented usage in this context is a reaction, almost a sneering gibe, to the “facile mudslinging” (Yorke) and the attempted inhibition of any debate.

We shall see how this confrontation resolves, whether it absorbs or repels the issue, until then it’s likely that Atoms For Peace will continue playing and maybe even seek out alternative mediums to share their music.