Teleman
– GORILLA, MANCHESTER –
Tonight marks the fifth night of Teleman’s UK tour – not a particularly astounding fact, I grant you. But what makes it worth mentioning is that the London band’s joyous second album, Brilliant Sanity, is only due to be released after the seventh date of the tour – that is to say in three days’ time – meaning the majority of the new material that the band are so eager to show off is unfamiliar to the assembled Gorilla crowd.
It sets the narrative for the night: old favourites are, without exception, embraced with enthusiastic fervour, whilst new tracks are met with willing, expectant curiosity, but inevitably with more subdued energy levels. Undeterred, the band work hard to inject the less recognisable songs with an extra oomph to compensate, and are broadly successful. What’s more, the setlist has been smartly put together, avoiding any extended lulls during the hour that they fill the stage, and maintaining a healthy spirit in the room.
Opener ‘Strange Combinations’ falls into the familiar category, but it is not until they break into ’23 Floors Up’ from their 2014 debut album Breakfast that the set really lifts off for the first time. The band’s signature blend of twitching, finely crafted earworm songwriting and dense, hypnotic, motoric rhythms is on full display, and when, during songs like ‘Tangerine’ and main set closer ‘Steam Train Girl’, they entertain their Neu-like tendencies, they have the crowd under their spell.
Many of the new tracks sound confident and fresh, with ‘Fall In Time’ in particular standing out. The fact that singer/guitarist Thomas Sanders and bassist Pete Cattermoul tend to play within such tight, meticulous confines means that when in fact they do decide to break free from them, it is all the more effective. Cattermoul can barely contain his excitement as they prepare to launch into ‘Cristina’, and it receives possibly the most enthusiastic reception of the night.
The night is closed out by Brilliant Sanity’s excellent lead single ‘Dusseldorf’ and Breakfast hidden track ‘Not In Control’, both of which sizzle with tension, before finally letting their hair down and indulging in Sanders’ guitar riffs and Hiro Amamiya’s crazed drum patterns. By the time the people are streaming out of Gorilla, Teleman can rest assured that they have successfully sold a good few copies of their new album tonight.
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I'm a refugee in Manchester, having successfully escaped Birmingham in 2007. I'm a soon-to-be journalism student, used to edit the music section of the Manchester Uni paper, and have done a little radio production to boot. I've been adding bits and pieces to Silent Radio since 2012, mostly gig reviews, but a few albums too. Also hoping now to get involved with the brilliant radio show. When doing none of that, you can usually find me at some gig venue somewhere around town.
