#of tomorrow

[spilladabalia]

The Telescopes - Butterfly

[dustedmagazine]

The Telescopes — Of Tomorrow (Tapete)

The Telescopes founder and now sole member, Stephen Lawrie continues his quest for transcendence through an elegantly paced mixture of shoegaze, drone and psychedelia on Of Tomorrow. Lawrie’s vocals are unusually prominent this time; they tend to a monochrome, world weary murmuring on matters both cosmic and domestic, his lyrics direct and repetitive. Beneath that Lawrie builds intricately detailed layers of spacey guitar and organ atop pulsing bass and robotic drum machines. The arrangements contrast with the simplicity of the words and the limitations of his voice to create a hypnotically crepuscular atmosphere. Lawrie also slides into baroque chamber pop and 1960s-influenced big beat, albeit smothered in electronic and production effects, without losing either the character or effect of the record.

Lawrie sequences the album into three distinct but interlocking phases. The first three tracks are medium paced, progressively less squally explorations of Spiritualized like space rock, riding on thick bass riffs and swirling guitar lines, with Lawrie waning lyrical about the mysteries of life. The groove is the thing, and he comes at it from a slightly different angle each time, locking in but happy to allow some friction to destabilize things, all the while centering attention back to his voice. The middle section is the most sonically interesting. The stately “Only Lovers Know” finds Lawrie almost crooning over a swirling organ, a bottom end twang of guitar and two note bass throb. It sounds something like Richard Hawley’s version of “Some Candy Talking,” locating a Lynchian darkness at the heart of a 1960s teen love song. “The Other Side” ups the pace and pitch, there’s a buzzing drone at its core, the guitars pulling against the rigidity of the rhythm section and Lawrie’s voice seeping into your ears, an insinuating calm amidst the maelstrom. Thereafter, Lawrie brings us back down. “Under Starlight” takes rolling Mo Tucker toms, ride cymbals, shakers, Farfisa organ and reverbed vocals refracted through the Paisley Underground and the lyrics “I’ve been found/Now that that I’ve found you” have the ambiguity and intensity that could be apply love, God, drugs or all and none of the above. 

In Of Tomorrow, Lawrie sacrifices some of the pummeling noise and subterranean murk of previous albums without losing his ability to draw listeners into his twilit world. With his voice to the fore and some shafts of melodic light, he once more tweaks The Telescopes’ sound in ways that remain compelling. 

Andrew Forell

[theriverbeyond]

Ideal work schedule:

I show up and am given a list of cognitively engaging but achievable tasks

I complete the list

I leave immedietly

[copepods]

crazy how 4 hours of work will literally take up my entire 15+ hour day. who allowed this

[lesbian-moon-gf]

surviving the current age of internet means saying no to subscriptions and premiums for basic features. you must endure the inconvenience of not being able to use every server emoji in discord. you must build the patience to find alternatives like NewPipe so you can listen to music on youtube while your phone screen sleeps. do Not give these corporations your limited disposable income. tiktok not letting me view videos on my phone without downloading the app? i will outlast tiktok and the execs will be remembered as dull,disgusting capitalists. listen to me, listen to me. if you do not know how to pirate shows from hulu, learn. if you can't pirate it, it is not worth the money to rent it. please i'm on my hands and knees. do not accept this form of internet.

[badolmen]

WARNING 18+

19

[pigswithwings]

the angel staying over at my house asked for a nightlight in their room and i told them buddy, don't you produce your own light? what're you gonna do with more? and they said they wanted to see why people like it so much. and also that the nightlight i own is blue and they've been trying to understand color. anyways i think they've stared at it for an hour now

[civetcider]

so embarrassing to be drawing an OC and forget to add some part of their design...like yeah i made this guy...hand picked everything about them....yeah i forgot to add the things i like about them....

[cloudyydraws]

UY! PHILIPPINES!!!! PHILIPPINES!!!!

[homiu-l]

good livestream and good night gamers

[ato-dato]

Plus interest!!!!

[shandzii]

gaddamn

[marlynnofmany]

If that doesn't have potential for some fairytale nonsense, I don't know what does.

[honestlydarkprincess]

standard ear piercings count

each hole counts as one piercing to me (except for like connected piercings like the industrial)

*bonus points if you tell me what piercings you have

edit: accidentally skipped 19, so sorry if you have 19 piercings just round down or up, up to you

[daydreamycrustacean]

Loved by god