The Telescopes
Exploding Head Syndrome
Release Date: Feb 1, 2019
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Dream Pop, Noise Pop, Noise-Rock, Shoegaze
Record label: Tapete Records
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Album Review: Exploding Head Syndrome by The Telescopes
Great, Based on 2 Critics
Based on rating 8/10
After the unbroken assault of bleakness and noise that was the Telescopes' 2017 album As Light Return, main (and only) Telescope Stephen Lawrie must have needed a break from all the stress and angst. 2109's Exploding Head Syndrome dials the guitar skronk down to a simmer and the rhythms are set to hypnotic, as Lawrie mumbles in (mostly) soothing tones in the background. It's a real change of pace, and like almost everything else the band have done in the preceding 30 years, the album is sonically challenging and truly uneasy listening.
Based on rating 7.5/10
If 2019 is meant to be the year of the concept album then Stephen Lawrie has suitably nailed it here. Exploding Head Syndrome is Lawrie's eleventh studio LP fronting The Telescopes and as with every other record he's put his name to, is every bit as unpredictable as it is audacious. The album is named after a phenomenon also known as snapping of the brain, which is said to be a condition where a person "experiences unreal noises." Exploding Head Syndrome takes the listener on a transcendental journey through sonic experiments doused in melody, yet often oscillated to the point of excision.
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