Telefís, (the Irish Gaelic word for Television, pronounced Tele-feesh) is a collaboration between two acclaimed Irish iconoclasts, composer/mixer/producer Garret "Jacknife" Lee (U2, REM, Modest Mouse and many others) and singer/lyricist/composer Cathal Coughlan (Microdisney, Fatima Mansions and many acclaimed solo works). With Jacknife now based in Los Angeles and Cathal based in London, the two spent 2020 trading ideas and musical files during lockdown, hatching plans for a satirical, mischievous examination of Irish history and the pop culture of their lifetimes, what the two have labelled .."a corrosive nostalgia". The result is a highly unique album containing thirteen tracks entitled 'a hAon' (Number One), which will be released by Dimple Discs in March 2022.On the new collaboration Cathal observes..."Collaborating in this way, with a dynamic and consummate artist, who has access to a wide range of skills which I don't have, but with whom I share many common interests and cultural/historical reference points, has been one of the highlights of my creative life. It's made me so glad that I've been able to remain active for long enough to see something like this happen. Easily as spontaneous and full of surprises as any in-person collaboration, it’s shaken loose many weird and hopefully wonderful things in my verbal workshop. And nobody has heard me use my voice in some of these ways before now, either."Jacknife Lee adds: "I'd just finished mangling a Luke Haines and Peter Buck record. Luke knows Cathal and re-introduced us. On the first or second correspondence we thought we should make some music together. Music is probably the only way I can properly communicate with someone. I sent Cathal the backing track that would become "We Need" and he sent me back the vocal and we went back and forth from there. Lockdowns and travel restrictions forced us to work remotely, and I think helped us get to where we got so quickly. Cathal is without doubt one of the finest lyricists of our time and writes like no one else. Some of the vocals he sent over made me burst out laughing with giddiness and delight at the novelty of them. Mischievous, dark, arcane, crispy fresh, and always unexpected. Every song with a backstory that could be a novel. This is easily the most enjoyable and rewarding music that I've been involved with.”Part celebration, part satire, Telefís is an exploration of nostalgia as experienced in the present day, by natives of what was formerly a culturally sealed-off small country on the very fringes of Europe. It also points a critical finger at today’s global hierarchies, an inspiration for the strange characters and caricatures that spring from Coughlan's fertile imagination. Stark forms of imagery, bizarre to the modern eye and ear but treated as routine in the pre-globalization world, are pushed at the listener and viewer. On the musical side, Jacknife Lee uses his extensive sonic palette to create an irresistible mix of cinematic instrumentals and electro-funk backdrops full of melodic, squelchy synths and thunderous bass-lines, often with a cheeky nod to electro-pop history.
