Seattle’s Telekinesis make sweet, melodic pop that’s rough around the edges. Sitting somewhere between Belle and Sebastian and Ash, this debut album is a well-balanced mix between sparkly/energetic and contemplative/refrained, with singer, songwriter, guitarist and drummer Michael Benjamin Lerner’s fresh sounding vocals giving everything a light, breezy feel. Death Cab for Cutie’s guitarist Chris Walla produced the album and attempted to record and mix a track a day to keep everything spontaneous. This approach works, the only downside being that some of the songs, including the delicate opener ‘Rust’ and the infectious ‘Awkward Kisser’, would benefit from being developed further to reach their full potential. This speedy bashing out of tunes also means the album runs at a frenetic pace, and it’s all over in just a little over 30 minutes (though an 11-minute five-track EP has been tagged on to the end). More please.

Jake Bickerton