Telekinesis is an American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

project based in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

. Its moniker is a pseudonym for sole member Michael Benjamin Lerner, who single-handedly writes and performs the majority of the outfit's material. Telekinesis is signed to

Merge Records Merge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1989 by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. It began as an outlet for music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends, and has expande ...

History

Michael Benjamin Lerner (born September 1, 1986) grew up in

Kenmore, Washington Kenmore is a city in King County, Washington, United States, along the northernmost shore of Lake Washington. It is a suburban commuter town at the mouth of the Sammamish River, northeast of downtown Seattle and west of Bothell. The population ...

, a suburb of Seattle. He left home at 18 to attend Sir Paul McCartney's

Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) is a performing arts higher education institution in Liverpool, founded by Paul McCartney and Mark Featherstone-Witty and opened in 1996. LIPA offers 11 full-time BA (Hons) degrees in a range ...

, where he studied audio recording. He is the son of the Seattle Radio presenter, Mike West (real name: Vince Lerner), now heard on Sunday mornings at Seattle's 102.5 KZOK-FM as host of ''Breakfast with the Beatles''. Telekinesis was signed to

in early 2009, and shortly afterward released the debut album ''

Telekinesis! ''Telekinesis!'' is the eponymous debut studio album by the alternative rock band Telekinesis (band), Telekinesis. Recorded in September 2008, the album was produced, mixed, and engineered with the help of Chris Walla (guitarist for Death Cab For ...

'' on April 7, 2009. Recorded in September 2008, the album was produced, mixed, and engineered with the help of

Chris Walla Christopher Ryan Walla (born November 2, 1975) is an American musician, record producer, and film music composer, best known for being a former guitarist and songwriter for the band Death Cab for Cutie. Musical career Early bands While at Bot ...

(guitarist for

Death Cab For Cutie Death Cab for Cutie is an American rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington, in 1997. The band is currently composed of Ben Gibbard (vocals, guitar, piano), Nick Harmer (bass), Dave Depper (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals), Zac Rae (keyboar ...

), who also played on most tracks. Lerner and Walla recorded one song per day on analog tape. Lerner cites the 1983 album '' Dazzle Ships'', by English electronic band

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) are an English electronic music, electronic band formed in Wirral Peninsula, Wirral, Merseyside, in 1978. The group consists of co-founders Andy McCluskey (vocals, bass guitar) and Paul Humphreys (keyboar ...

(OMD), as a major influence on his work. Telekinesis covered

ELO Elo or ELO may refer to: Music * Electric Light Orchestra, a British rock music group ** ''The Electric Light Orchestra'' (album), the group's debut album ** ''ELO 2'', the group's second album * ELO Part II, an offshoot band of Electric Light ...

's "

Can't Get It Out of My Head "Can't Get It Out of My Head" is a song written by Jeff Lynne and originally recorded by Electric Light Orchestra (also known as ELO). First released on the band's fourth album ''Eldorado'' in September 1974, the song is the second track on t ...

" for the

American Laundromat Records American Laundromat Records is an independent record label founded in 2004 by Joe Spadaro. ALR specializes in almost annual indie rock compilation albums, which have included tracks by OK Go, The Dresden Dolls, and The Watson Twins. Compilation t ...

charity album ''Sing Me To Sleep–Indie Lullabies,'' released May 2010. The outfit also covered Nirvana's "

On A Plain "On a Plain" is a song by American rock band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist, Kurt Cobain. It is the 11th track on their second album, ''Nevermind'', released in September 1991. The song was released as a promo single in 1992, peakin ...

" in 2011 for ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

'' magazine's exclusive tribute album, '' Newermind: A Tribute to Nirvana''. "Power Lines" from third album '' Dormarion'' (2013), was the title song for the Amazon show ''

Betas ''Betas'' is an American streaming television series that was produced by Amazon Studios. The show starred Joe Dinicol and Karan Soni as "dating app" developers in Silicon Valley who are looking for an investor. Amazon offered the first three e ...

'' (2013).

Personnel

* Michael Benjamin Lerner - drums, guitar, bass, keys, vocals, cowbell, trombone, cello, violin, paintbrush

Touring members

Rebecca Cole Rebecca J. Cole (March 16, 1846August 14, 1922) was an American physician, organization founder and social reformer. In 1867, she became the second African-American woman to become a doctor in the United States, after Rebecca Lee Crumpler three ...

- keyboards, background vocals (2011–present) * Jay Clancy - bass (2017–present) * Lance Umble - electric guitar (2015–present)

Former touring members

* Eric Elbogen - bass * Nick Vicario - electric guitar *

Cody Votolato Cody Votolato (born 20 May 1982) is a musician from Redmond, Washington, best known for being the guitarist in the post-hardcore band The Blood Brothers. He grew up in the eastside suburbs of Seattle. Cody attended Redmond High School with hi ...

- electric guitar *

Jason Narducy Jason V. Narducy is an American musician from Evanston, Illinois, United States. After receiving his first guitar at the age of nine Narducy started his music career, playing guitar and writing songs for his punk rock band, Verboten. Verboten i ...

- bass *

Chris Staples Chris Staples is an American indie rock musician originally from Pensacola, Florida, long based in Seattle, Washington. He released ''Panama, Burned and Blistered'', '' Blackest Hair, Bluest Eyes'', ''Badlands'', and ''American Soft'' independe ...

- electric guitar, background vocals (2009-2011) * David Broecker - electric guitar, acoustic guitar, bass guitar (2009-2011) * Jonie Broecker - bass guitar, keyboards (2009-2011)

Discography

Albums

* ''

'' –

Merge Merge, merging, or merger may refer to: Concepts * Merge (traffic), the reduction of the number of lanes on a road * Merge (linguistics), a basic syntactic operation in generative syntax in the Minimalist Program * Merger (politics), the comb ...

, (2009) * ''12 Desperate Straight Lines'' – Merge, (2011) * ''Dormarion'' – Merge, (2013) * ''Ad Infinitum'' – Merge, (2015) * '' Effluxion'' – Merge, (2019)

EPs

* ''Toulouse-Lautrec'' – self-released, (2008) * ''Coast of Carolina'' – self-released, (2009) * ''Parallel Seismic Conspiracies'' – Merge, (2010)

Singles

* "All of a Sudden" split 7-inch –

Architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

, (2008)

References

External links

Telekinesis Official Page

Merge Records - Telekinesis

Telekinesis on Flickr

Press

* Luke Burbank
TBTL MyNorthwest.com

ideo performance IDEO () is a design and consulting firm with offices in the U.S., England, Germany, Japan, and China. It was founded in Palo Alto, California, in 1991. The company's 700 staff uses a design thinking approach to design products, services, environ ...

(December 15, 2009) * Luke Burbank
TBTL MyNorthwest.com
Interview (December 15, 2009) Indie rock musical groups from Washington (state) Merge Records artists Musical groups from Seattle {{US-indie-rock-band-stub