By: Brett Millius

These days there’s a real lack of great record labels that you can really rely on. The days of Stax and Motown, Chrysalis and Island feel long gone. Even labels like Arts & Crafts who at one point seemed to be on the right path to such reliability have fizzled into a safety zone for their friend’s bands and side projects; hardly a holy temple for the newest and most exciting talent. However, there is one label out there that does manage to come closest to maintaining a consistent reputation for having a killer roster of bands. That label is Merge Records. One only has to hear the names of The Arcade Fire, M. Ward, Spoon, and Neutral Milk Hotel to get an idea of the critically acclaimed bands and songwriters they release. That’s why when I heard about Merge’s latest new band Telekinesis I was really excited to hear the record. The band is singer/songwriter/guitarist/pianist/drummer Michael Lerner who wrote all the songs and plays almost every instrument on the album. It’s a solid listen that flows perfectly through the eleven tracks about the fragile heart of the indie rock dreamer kid. Lerner’s songs about escape (Tokyo, Imaginary Friends) and his cold, yearning heart (Rust, Calling all Doctors) will have fans of all of Merge’s songwriter based bands lining up at the door. His well written songs have catchy vocal melodies, chopping drum beats and sweeping keys arrangements. If I could give it a tag line I’d probably write something like: “Catchy As Hell” or “Joyous Melancholy”. This is a band I’ll definitely be keeping my eye on and looking forward to catching them live whenever they roll into town. In an era where everything is changing and you need something to trust in, I’m thankful my most recent leap for a Merge artist really paid off. Tune in to Telekinesis; it’s worth it.