We are nearing spring and the sun is only going to get hotter on this side of the equator. The days are longer, people begin to melt away their winter blues, and the quiet introspection that came with the season subsides. However, within that space, Telepathy stakes its claim, and their newest release, Transmissions, roots the listener by keeping them bound within the confines of nostalgia.

Like their labelmates A Swarm of the Sun’s An Empire, this album is best enjoyed blind but with the idea that it might emotionally destroy you. So, if you can once again indulge me, I have a lot of things to say in a manner best suited to a stream of consciousness.

Musically, Transmissions is fantastic post-metal: there is the myriad of different textures and sounds that make up its structure, making sure that the listener always has a thread or thread(s) to follow. It also has this incredibly emotional atmosphere that seems to reverberate throughout the entirety of its runtime even when the music changes key or shifts into something sludgy and bleak. The music builds upon itself, constantly changing, never staying the same even if the same notes or arrangements are used throughout the album. It is incredibly evocative, echoing the feel of a film score, as if Transmissions was made with the idea that it could be used as part of a film’s soundtrack. In a sense, it echoes the same feelings I had with An Empire – it’s a slow burn of a record, but one that feels more like a warm blanket than something cacophonous and bleak. The music doesn’t snarl in the same way An Empire does, but it can be just as dense and heavy. This is highlighted on “End Transmission,” a track that clears all the haziness surrounding the album’s atmosphere and delves straight into experimentation, cutting back from the almost classicality and giving in to their heavier nature. This sound comes long after many would have settled into Transmissions’s quiet, calm atmosphere, but then it kicks you in the face and reminds you, once again, that post-metal can and will continue to be dense and absorbing. Transmissions also uses what sounds like old radio recordings that seem to cue in an emotional peak. For example, first track “Oath” has what sounds like a woman speaking, but you can barely grasp what she’s saying. Underneath the heavy and dense instrumentation, a voice rings out, muted, faded, but nostalgic.

As the album continues, the music begins to add what I like to call “color” to its palette. The song “Tears in Fibre” begins to add to the aesthetics that this album seems to evoke by not only using more rhythmic beats and more upbeat swatches of music while maintaining that quiet, introspective nature that connects with the listener. Transmissions, in a rather strange way, has the aesthetic of old things in the attic, with layers of dust caked on the tops of boxes that you knew existed but never bothered to open. You wonder about the boxes’ contents, and when you open it, you wonder why the items inside were so important to the relative who left them behind. It evokes the feeling of connecting with family history that can only be found inside, finding things that have been the subject of family legend for years. There’s joy and pride in knowing that you have found something important within these boxes, and the sense of wonder that comes with having these things in your grasp. That’s what this album is: a constant wave of emotion that shifts from awe to joy to melancholy. You know that you can only hold on to these items for so long before placing them into another box for someone else to find.

There’s nothing quite like coming to terms with your mortality than knowing that something that was there before you will be found once again while you are just a fading memory. For the lack of a better phrase, it’s clear that Telepathy is not thinking of ending things. Given Transmissions’s experimentation and sense of wonder, there’s something here for everyone to enjoy. While this is my first Telepathy album, consider me fully invested into what this band has in store, and I can’t wait to see where they go next. Come for the music, stay for the sonic aesthetics.

— Hera

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Transmissions will be available March 28 on Pelagic Records. For more information on Telepathy, visit their official Facebook and Instagram pages.