This album’s been in my possession for some time now, but I’ve struggled to get around to reviewing it. I’ve got a good excuse, though: I can’t stop playing it. Each time I go to put words down, I find myself getting distracted by the songs and simply listening instead of writing.
There’s no messing about here – a brief clatter of rapidfire drums and then it all kicks off, big guitars, throbbing bass and edgy, angst-ridden vocals lead the sonic assault that is ‘The Argument.’ Darcy’s vocals almost crack in the final lines ‘Take it back, take it back, you can’t take it,’ delivered with both guts and passion, and it’s clear that this is no minor bickering.
This opening serves as a statement of intent, brimming with fire and anger, a full-throttle rock-out borne out of dissatisfaction and disunity. Without pausing for breath, it’s straight into the single ‘We Dance in Slow Motion’ which is tense to the core.
The angst spills into emo histrionics and slightly widdly guitar on ‘Your First Love is Dead,’ but overall the album is an exercise in channelled anger, condensed into succinct and highly concentrated packages of ire. The driving guitars and powerhouse rhythm section often underpin guitar lines reminiscent of bands like Skeletal Family and The March Violets. Ok, so perhaps that says more about me than Telegraphs, but the twin vocals also remind me of later Violets tracks, too.
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That said, there’s texture and variety to be found, with ‘Drop D Not Bombs’ being a slow-building post-rock instrumental that begins with chiming guitars and reaches a crescendo of monumental proportions. It’s followed by ‘I Don’t Navigate By You,’ on which bassist Hattie takes over the lead vocal duties, and combined with the punchy 80s disco style drumming it’s as much Blondie as anything else.
While personal turmoils are the primary focus, there’s a political aspect in evidence too: ‘The Rules of Modern Policing’ rails against the privacy-busting laws and 24-hour surveillance society, commenting that ‘this brave new world / feels like 1984.’ There’s a sharpness and literacy about Telegraphs that’s both compelling and refreshing. What’s more, while the power chords and bursts of energy drive the album along as breakneck speed, the songs bristle with hooks that will embed themselves deep with just one or two plays. Once of the most exciting albums of 2009 so far, and unlikely to be surpassed as best debut of the year. Recommended and then some.
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