Local Review: TelePathiQ – Transformation

TelePathiQ
Transformation

Self-Released
Street: 08.25
TelePathiQ = Rival Consoles + Massive Attack + VCMG

Hailing from Logan, originator Darrick Riggs along with live act–collaborator Kurt Aslett creates a classical-piano-and-professional-percussion powerhouse, crafting hypnotic contemporary electronic, ’90s trip-hop and ’80s British new wave vocals. Opening tracks “Unfinished Story” and “Truth” set a pleasantly complex stage for the wealth of ambience, highly danceable grooves and delicious, spiraling synth sequences this album has to offer. Layered and varied vocals and dark, brooding baselines befit Transformation’s contemplative lyrics as displayed on tracks like “Generation.” Electric organ and dissonant orchestral sounds open “Once in a Lifetime,” matched with a dramatic, somewhat pleading narrative. I discovered my body bobbing to the beats and feeling compelled to close my eyes and bliss out. There are gorgeous ghosts in this machine, the same machinations of predecessors Depeche Mode and Moby. I am curious if the second-to-last track “Devotion” was intended to be a nod to fellow Depeche devotees, because of its arrangements and exalting, spiritualistic lyrics on display. I strongly suspect Martin Gore would nod in approval were he to get his legendary hands on a copy of Transformation, and I would love to be a fly on that particular wall. Riggs’ classical training comes forward beautifully in “Undivided” and closing track “Introspection,” evoking images of a robotic Beethoven droid pounding away passionately on a Minimoog. This juxtaposition is met again in the plaintive and powerful “Breathe,” with melancholy violin joining the mix. The sophisticated musicality of Transformation is evident, as is the mastery of multiple electronic influences by its makers. In a landscape of electronica that often bleeds together and becomes indistinguishable, TelePathiQ have carved out complex sonic geography, creating a much-appreciated mark on the map. Explorers of the electronic, as well as lovers of contemporary classical music, would do themselves a favor by giving Transformation its due time. –Paige Zuckerman