Written by: Alex Green
Photo Credit: Raul Divaev
Dave Cantrell reviews The Telescopes’ As Light Return
Paul Gleason reviews Hidden Fields
The Telescopes are premiering their new EP on Stereo Embers.
The dream-pop/psych outfit from Staffordshire’s new effort is Stone Tape and it’s a straight up killer. The follow-up to 2017’s As Light Return, Stone Tape is a spare six-song offering of sheer power and aching beauty–a hushed urgency somehow burns through the EP’s spartan arrangements with an immediacy that’s as rousing as it is crushing.
Fronted by Stephen Lawrie, the legendary band (who were once signed to Creation) has never sounded better. Lawrie’s vocals are a perfect blend of restraint and release, his voice hovering over each number with a heavenly menace.
According to the band’s press release, Stone Tape is a concept album that’s based on Thomas Charles Lethbridge’s “Stone Tape Theory.” The Archaeologist/Parapsychologist, “developed the idea that inanimate materials can absorb energy from living beings, and that this mental electrical energy, released during emotional or traumatic events, could somehow be ‘stored’ in such materials and ‘reproduced’ under certain conditions.”
Stone Tape marks the band’s first collaboration with Yard Press. The press release explains the joining of these two creative forces: “The Telescopes’ new six-track offering inaugurates Yard Press’ new series of record productions. Curated by Giandomenico Carpentieri, this endeavor is rooted in the desire to create albums that are developed in close collaboration with the artists involved. The starting point is to create a concept album specially designed for Yard Press, within a free environment without creative limits, where artists can pursue the most experimental and conceptual projects.”
Though Stone Tape is available digitally, its vinyl iteration will be limited to 500 copies and can be ordered here through Yard Press.
TRACK LIST
01 Become The Sun
02 The Speaking Stones
03 The Desert In Your Heart
04 Everything Must Be
05 Silent Water
06 Dead Inside
CREDITS
Written, produced, arranged and played by Stephen Lawrie
Album photography by Achille Filipponi
Series curated by Giandomenico Carpentieri
Series executive production by Leonardo Mancini
TOUR DATES
Oct. 25 London, UK – The Brewhouse
Oct. 26 Brighton, UK – Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar
Oct. 27 Hartlepool, UK – The Studio
Oct. 31 Bilbao, Spain – Kafe Antzokia
Nov. 1 Saragossa, Spain – Dabadaba
Nov. 2 Madrid, Spain – Moby Dick Club
Nov. 3 Leiria, Portugal – Texas Bar
Nov. 4 Lisbon, Portugal – Sabotage Club
Nov. 5 Badajoz, Spain – Mercantil
Nov. 6 Pamplona, Spain – Nebula Bar
Nov. 7 Barcelona, Spain – Sala Upload
Nov. 8 Tarragona, Spain – Sala el Cau
Nov. 9 Perpignan, France – Allez Viens
Nov. 10 Martigny, Switzerland – La Caves
Nov. 11 Bologna, Italy – Freakout
Nov. 12 Roma, Italy – Fanfulla
Nov. 15 Nuremberg, Germany – Z-Bau
Nov. 16 Halle, Germany – Hühnermanhattan
Nov. 17 Copenhagen, Denmark – Venue TBA
Nov. 18 Aalborg, Denmark – 1000Fryd
Nov. 19 Berlin, Germany – Badehaus Berlin
Nov. 20 Koln, Germany – Sonic Ballroom
Nov. 21 Paris, France – Supersonic
Nov. 22 Cardiff, UK – The Moon
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