While London trio Teleman are new to the scene, the boys are anything but novices; formed from three of the founding members of Pete and the Pirates, who announced their split last October.
The second incarnation of Pete Cattermoul and the Sanders brothers is a notable, if not drastic, change – more surreal, more lucid, less atypically ‘indie’.
‘Steam Train Girl‘, the sophomore single after the well received ‘Cristina’, is a slow-builder, opening on a metronome of a bass line, matched by minimalist drums which provide an almost hypnotic backdrop to sit back and listen to as Johnny Sanders vocals rise and fall between the accented verses and the higher, catchy climb of the chorus.
There’s definitely an air of the artistic and the intellectual to Teleman, see the consciously-rustic video chock-full of Meyerhold-esque athletes and ash-coated factory workers that would not be out of place in a Stalinist propaganda film.
Where Pete and the Pirates reflected the heady, noisy indie-rock of their day, Teleman’s efforts thus far have been (inevitably) compared with Alt-J and Django Django in its slightly geeky, refined English vibe.
Slots at the Glastonbury, Latitude and End of the World festivals this summer, as well as an extensive Europe tour to follow, signal a band that could well be a cornerstone of a new wave of British rock.
(Jack Gunner)
