TELEKINESIS plays the Horseshoe March 6. See listing. Rating: NNN
Bands in need of a catchy pop sound with a light edge should visit Chris Walla in Portland. The Death Cab for Cutie guitarist and producer can seemingly get this result from any artist he works with, including Michael Benjamin Lerner, aka Telekinesis.
Lerner fled to Berlin for inspiration to write this sophomore effort, holing up in a warehouse, perhaps an attempt to inject some darkness into the cheerful pop displayed on his 2009 Walla-produced debut.
He eventually returned to Walla to make a record as upbeat as its predecessor, even when striving to be as downcast as the Cure (Please Ask For Help). This isn’t necessarily a problem, since songs like Car Crash and Your Turn Clear In The Sun are infectious rock. But redundancy creeps up, and you can’t help wondering what was left on the Berlin warehouse floor.
Top track: Your Turn Clear In The Sun
