Telefoto - The Minor Keys Of Desperate Hope
The Minor Keys of Desperate Hope by Telefoto ambiance tones warps your mind into a nostalgic conductive ride.
The track placement on this album became my first favourite aspect of the album. As your mind first transcends into their atmospheric electronica world with the first three songs they break away with the faster paced and heavier song “8 Hour Shift” then switch it back to the slower tempo, they keep with the same rotation throughout the album.
One thing I found with the songs on the album is you are not able to listen to the first ten seconds of the song and judge its entirety. A case in point song would be “Contrition (For Present Day). As the song starts off slowly and gradually gets stronger and louder with a piano being played one key at time. After the ten second time a “heavy” electric guitar riff steps in and takes control of the song. However the strength and the energy of the song coil around throughout its entirety. The basis which surrounds this song is what brings me into enjoying the album as much as I do. There is no set basis and ground in any of the songs, as you listen to each song for the first couple times you realize that you really do not know what to expect next. The harmonies during “Contrition (For Present Day) adds a different touch and feel to the song as well. Do the harmony vocals blend in within the song? I wouldn’t say so but this is what is so unique with Telefoto.
My favourite song off of the album is the fourth song “8 Hour Shift”, which also happens to be the shortest song on the album as well. When I heard this song for the first time which also happened to be live I instantly made this song my favourite. To hear “8 Hour Shift” live is also a different experience as well, I found there was a little more energy in the song compared to the recorded version. My favourite aspect about the song is how heavy the song gets in the middle and the end of the song. The uplifting feel and energy of the song helps strengthen the album. Compared to the other songs on the album the vocals take a strain during the song, they come out a little raspier which does blend in with the idea and flow of the song. The placement of the song on the album was the right choice as well it helps break the up the all present electronic flow of the album.
“Blind” finishes off the album with a little bit of deception and helping to end the album on a strong note. Throughout the album I found Telefoto blends a couple of genres into each song but they put a little extra into “Blind”. As I said before you are not able to listen to the first ten seconds and expect to know how the song is going to sound. I found you really had to listen to “Blind” a couple of times before you could fully understand the song and where it was going. The rock end of the song was the definite strong point of the album. For this song I found the mixture of the drums and electric guitar really drove the song. I found it interesting how the vocals changed and went in different directions throughout the song. At the four and a half minute mark the deception of the song takes into full effect, the song starts back up and kicks off with the Keys playing a fast tempo solo. The song finishes off with the same organ sound which was at the beginning of the song.