Instagram Soundcloud Spotify

The Telescopes Premiere “Stone Tape” On Stereo Embers

Written by:

Photo Credit: Raul Divaev

Dave Cantrell reviews The Telescopes’ As Light Return

Paul Gleason reviews Hidden Fields

SEM interviews Stephen Lawrie

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

Keep up with The Telescopes

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Bandcamp