Description
With breakneck rifs and explosive dynamics already earning a formidable reputation for avant-garde post-metal quartet Telepathy, their fourth album ‘Transmissions’ sees the band turn their gaze inward to explore the rich sonic landscape of their creative and cultural origins. A new arsenal of cinematic synth textures and alien soundscapes pushes the band’s genre-defying ethos towards more nostalgic and introspective ter- rain as they come to terms with the unknown.
Formed in 2011, Telepathy is the creation of three Polish brothers; Piotr, Albert and Krystian Turek, and English guitarist Richard Powley. Bringing a collision of musical infuences from Tool, Deftones and Vangelis to genres as diverse as Synthwave and Post-Punk, it is the collective’s pervading love for flm and movie scores that truly unites the band’s members under the Telepathy banner. The Suffolk-based fourpiece quickly made a name for themselves through their instrumental balance of atypical tunings, found audio samples and joyride-like time signatures, conveying remarkably deep and dy- namic narratives through their instruments alone.
It was Telepathy’s second full-length record, 2017’s ‘Tempest’ that saw the band catch the attention of the international Post-Metal scene, with The Quietus declaring the record “such a dynamic, expres- sive and engaging piece of music that it stretches far beyond the instrumental metal tag.” The album’s critical acclaim led to two intense years of touring and festivals with appearances at the likes of Road- burn, ArcTanGent, Desertfest and more crowned by European support slots for heavyweight titans Solstafr and Bongripper.
2020 saw Telepathy refne their sound even further with the cinematic sludge odyssey ‘Burn Em- brace’ produced by Jaime Gomez Arellano (Ghost, Paradise Lost, Oranssi Pazazu). Documenting the world on the brink of collapse, Telepathy fnally unleashed the album live to sold-out audiences across the UK and Europe supporting Finnish Psych-Metal outft Oranssi Pazazu and adding festivals such as Amplifest and Euroblast to their already extensive collection.
After such a relentless trajectory, the band’s latest ofering ‘Transmissions’ marks the culmination of four years of introspection, experimentation and revitalisation for Telepathy, representing the band at its expressive core. Inspired by faded photographs unearthed in the brother’s family home and the surprise discovery of a long lost relic, ‘Transmissions’ is a cluster of musical messages that hurtles between nostalgic snapshots of the past and the everyday chaos of the present. Amongst precious memories and family treasures, the Turek brothers stumbled upon a recording of the frst radio broadcast of statesman Józef Piłsudski, widely regarded as the founder of modern Poland. The wonder and optimism in his voice, captured over 100 years ago, ignited an inspirational drive to refect this time- less sense of awe in the present by pushing their musical creativity further than ever before.
This revolutionary reinvention is immediately apparent on the opening track and lead single ‘Oath’, which poured efortlessly out of the band in just one day. A recreation of that famous radio transmission introduces eight formidable minutes of widescreen rifs, thundering drums and otherworldly synth work that simultaneously feels like the blink of an eye. Subsequent track ‘Augury’ rises from the dying whispers of ‘Oath’, signalling Telepathy’s renewed focus on composition and storytelling. The sense of open space and weightlessness from the song’s halftime groove, soaring guitar arpeggios and an audio sample declaring that “the answer lies in the future” pushes the band beyond the familiar into exciting, uncharted territory.
Through the process of writing and recording ‘Transmissions’, Telepathy realised the dangers of complacency and boredom; how a false sense of certainty that we already know everything can cause us to forget lessons learned and shun the beauty of a shared present. Intended to serve as a reminder to seek wonder in the richness of life despite the challenges we have faced and will face, both together and alone; ‘Transmissions’ is a message to everyone, listener and band alike, a reminder to continue to practise the art of living.
FOR FANS OF: Tool, Deftones, Russian Circles, The Ocean (Collective), Hans Zimmer, Mogwai, Melvins
