Since emerging from the ether almost 40 years ago, the Telescopes have drifted freely and sometimes fitfully between noise rock, dream pop, psychedelia, space rock and experimental music. Across 19 studio albums, Stephen Lawrie’s long-running U.K.-based project has influenced generations of underground artists with its defiant war dance along the distant fringes of the mainstream.
For Static Charge (Tapete), Lawrie is joined by guitarist Darrell Carter, bassist Robert Prest and drummer John Lynch. Written, recorded and produced over two months, the album was mostly tracked live at Lawrie’s Butterfly House studio in Shropshire. Arriving after an acclaimed string of releases and extensive touring in the U.K. and Europe, Static Charge’s seven tightly focused tracks are propelled by “stone-age” rhythms and a distorted low-end pulse.
Neatly summing up the album as an antidote to “the new weirdness of existence,” Lawrie riffs on each track.
—Hobart Rowland
1) “White Noise”
“I have a tendency to switch off into another world when my bullshit detector starts to sound. I thought maybe other people could relate to that. This is a song about people whose words mean very little—words masking a rotten agenda.”
2) “28 Grams”
“Skimmer says he can help you out. Skimmer says all kinds of things. Skimmer always has a story for something bad that went down—it’s never Skimmer’s fault. Skimmer thinks he can make you doubt your own mind, but Skimmer isn’t that clever. We all see Skimmer, but sometimes there’s only Skimmer around. Sometimes we have to play along. Skimmer isn’t that clever. Skimmer knows we have to play along, but Skimmer believes his own truths. You play along. You watch Skimmer eat himself. You get burned. You knew you would. All that remains is the weight of the soul. (The weight of the soul is seven grams short of an ounce, Skimmer.)
3) “Revolutionary Blues”
“The magical, free-thinking radical is coming to take you away. All is illusion. When the piper calls, all is illusion. And they all go gently when it comes.”
4) “Come Around”
“An open invitation from the senses. The kettle is always on. You don’t need to take your shoes off. Keep a watchful ear—every step of the way.”
5) “Still Nothing”
“From dear old Lazarus. From Smoke Hotel. From a Tale of Woe. To big hate machines. Dead revolutionaries. Still life. Still hope. Still nothing. Nothing still. Bouncing atoms. Nothing still. Still nothing. Nothing is. You see, the mind control is perfect.”
6) “I Dream Of Fever”
“Habit that kick, man.”
7) “Desolation Grows”
“I’m a traveling man. I go wherever I am. Nothing is the same as when it began. Check your DNA. Trace their journeys across seas and oceans. Nobody is in the place where their story began. We are all immigrants. We are all refugees. Nothing is stationary. All is traveling.”
