In the six years that have passed since Telekinesis (aka Michael Benjamin Lerner) burst onto the indie-power-pop scene in 2009, a lot has changed – both within the band, and without. A rotating cast of supporting members, both for touring and recording purposes, have come and gone – but the project remains solely driven by Michael and his dedicated work ethic.
With each subsequent album – 2011’s 12 Desperate Straight Lines and 2013’s Dormarion – subtle shifts in his power-pop formula emerged; the former saw Flin Flon influenced bass-fuzz taking center stage while the later featured a bevvy of synth-lead tracks.
Now, after two years of letting his fans in on the process of creating an album bit by bit, Michael is ready to tease his latest record Ad Infinitum with a new YouTube video and single.
In the starkly lit, black and white teaser embedded above, Michael is seen throughout the process of recording the new atmospheric and synth-heavy record – a natural approach to building buzz, as his studio and equipment have been a big focus of his online presence since the record’s inception. It has been fascinating to get a glimpse into Michael’s creative process in such a way as not to spoil too much about the record, but still feel somehow involved – be it via catching glimpses of a new sampler acquisition or even just what records he has been spinning.
About the record’s new direction, Michael said:
“I went down to the basement,” Lerner recalls, “and started playing the same chords I always play… I just felt like I’d exhausted everything I knew. I was not excited at all. I just could not make another power-pop album.”
If you’d like to hear the first full-length single from Ad Infinitum, you can head on over to the KEXP blog to check out “In A Future World” now.
Ad Infinitum will land at your local record store this September via the infinitely-reliable Merge Records. The band will also be touring through Toronto at the Horseshoe Tavern on October 25th, 2015 – alongside SAY HI.
Thoughts about the new direction Telekinesis has taken? Make sure to toss ’em in the comments below!
June 17, 2015
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By Dan Gorman