REVIEW: Telekinesis - Dormarion

We featured Telekinesis recently (WYMA post here), and have been spending some time with the new one, Dormarion. It's a terrific guitar rock/power pop record. Telekinesis is one guy, drummer (and vocalist, guitarist, and everything else) Michael Lerner. He's a Seattle resident, but recorded this record with Spoon drummer Jim Eno at Eno's Hi Fi Studio in Austin.

Here's "Ghosts and Creatures":





It's a really pretty song - anthemic chorus, with just the right amount of reverb, and perfectly arranged instruments combine to make music that's very listenable, but has enough of an edge to be memorable.

Lerner's got one of those perfect power pop voices, and of course the music is extremely well-anchored - he's a drummer. What remains? Mostly a bunch of really catchy keyboards and guitar lines. But, again, it's not all glossy and smooth. "Wires" features some kind of jagged guitar lines and a kind of ragged approach, and it works. The ballad "Symphony" is well-sung and presents a good counterpoint to the super-catchy stuff and the more raucous stuff. The record is well-sequenced and the songs are layered and assembled impeccably, really - kudos to both Lerner and Eno.

You can currently listen to the whole album, streaming over at NPR First Listen. And you can learn, listen and order the record at Merge Records.