Finally the long-awaited debut album ‘a hAon’ (Number One) from Irish duo Telefís is out. We’ve been watching the build-up to this event from the 2/3 mark way through 2021 but, with the massive delay worldwide in receiving vinyl orders due to shortage of materials and accumulated waiting lists, this ripe and rip-roaring collection of 13 tracks is only available fully (in any format) today.
Telefís (the Irish Gaelic word for Television, pronounced Tele-feesh) is a collaboration between in-demand composer/mixer/producer Garret “Jacknife” Lee (U2, R.E.M., Modest Mouse, The Killers, Snow Patrol, Crystal Castles, Editors) and singer-lyricist-composer Cathal Coughlan (Microdisney, Fatima Mansions and many acclaimed solo works). Having known each other vaguely in Ireland’s early 80s post-punk scene, Jacknife is now based in L.A. and Cathal, a native of Cork, lives in London. A timely re-introduction by a mutual friend led to the two spending 2020 trading ideas and musical files during lockdown, hatching plans for a satirical, mischievous examination of Irish history and the pop culture of their lifetimes, which the two have labelled ..”a corrosive nostalgia”.
A series of remarkable singles and remixes, starting with the electro-funk monster ‘We Need’ EP in mid-2021 and followed by ‘Mister Imperator’, see Coughlan and Lee de-construct the Ireland of their youth through the prism of politics, technology and religion. Complemented by arcane imagery and 60s/70s video footage that are both playfully ironic and endearingly melancholic, these singles have set the table for one of year’s most intriguing and adventurous debut albums.
This album follows the release of their ‘Falun Gong Dancer EP’ with legendary post-punk bass maestro Jah Wobble (Public Image Limited, Invaders Of The Heart), in which Jacknife Lee transforms a disarmingly quiet and reflective song with vocals and ghostly piano chords into a deep-dub odyssey with Wobble’s signature low-end bass runs anchoring crisp percussion and panoramic space-echo effects.
On their work together as Telefís, Cathal Coughlan observes, “Collaborating in this way with a dynamic and consummate artist, who has access to a wide range of skills which I don’t have, but with whom I share many common interests and cultural/historical reference points, has been one of the highlights of my creative life. It’s made me so glad that I’ve been able to remain active for long enough to see something like this happen. Easily as spontaneous and full of surprises as any in-person collaboration, it’s shaken loose many weird and hopefully wonderful things in my verbal workshop. And nobody has heard me use my voice in some of these ways before now, either.”
Jacknife Lee adds: “I’d just finished mangling a Luke Haines and Peter Buck record. Luke knows Cathal and re-introduced us. On the first or second correspondence we thought we should make some music together. Music is probably the only way I can properly communicate with someone. I sent Cathal the backing track that would become “We Need” and he sent me back the vocal and we went back and forth from there. Lockdowns and travel restrictions forced us to work remotely, and I think helped us get to where we got so quickly. Cathal is without doubt one of the finest lyricists of our time and writes like no one else. Some of the vocals he sent over made me burst out laughing with giddiness and delight at the novelty of them. Mischievous, dark, arcane, crispy fresh, and always unexpected. Every song with a backstory that could be a novel. This is easily the most enjoyable and rewarding music that I’ve been involved with.”
Part celebration, part satire, Telefís is an exploration of nostalgia as experienced in the present day, by natives of what was formerly a culturally sealed-off small country on the very fringes of Europe. It also points a critical finger at today’s global hierarchies, an inspiration for the strange characters and caricatures that spring from Coughlan’s fertile imagination. Stark forms of imagery, bizarre to the modern eye and ear but treated as routine in the pre-globalization world, are pushed at the listener and viewer. On the musical side, Jacknife Lee uses his extensive sonic palette to create an irresistible mix of cinematic instrumentals and electro-funk backdrops full of melodic, squelchy synths and thunderous bass-lines, often with a cheeky nod to electro-pop history.
As of March 4, the ‘a hAon’ album will be available on CD and Vinyl via Dimple Discs. Both physical formats have two-sided lyric sheet insert, as well as across digital platforms. Physical orders are available at https://ffm.to/telefisahaon and the digital album can be ordered athttps://orcd.co/telefisahaon. U.S. orders can be placed at http://ffm.to/telefisusa. However, today is also Bandcamp Friday, so feel feel free to line the artists’ pockets a little more by ordering the album from them directly athttps://telefis.bandcamp.com/album/a-haon
ALBUM CREDITS
All tracks written by Cathal Coughlan and Jacknife Lee, except ‘Archbishop Beardmouth At The ChemOlympics’ and ‘There Goes Waterface’ (co-written with Davide Rossi).
Extra vocals on ‘Sex Bunting’ by Melissa Garner Lee, on ‘Ballytransnational’ by Esme Lee, on ‘Mister Imperator’ by Betsey Lee.
Drums on ‘Ballytransnational’ by Matt Bishop.
Strings on ‘Stampede’ by Davide Rossi.
Horns on ‘Picadors’ by Jordan Katz.
Extra production on ‘Archbishop Beardmouth At The ChemOlympics’ and ‘There Goes Waterface’ by Davide Rossi.
Mastered by Anthony Chapman.
Artwork and videos by Jacknife Lee.
Published by Besme Music/Cathal Coughlan.
Experience the wacky wonderful world of Telefís
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