Today we're going deep, deep into dreamland, with another one of the best vaporwave albums out there: Interstellar Love by Telepath.
When it comes to vaporwave, it really doesn't get any better than Telepath. They make up one half of the 2814 duo (known for Birth of a New Day, one of the most well-known vaporwave albums out there), and they've been a formidable act in their own right since just about the onset of the genre. Like most great acts, they're completely anonymous (and should remain that way IMO); some of their hallmarks are gratuitous (often nonsensical) Japanese text, a really fuzzy/vintage/retro aesthetic, and an unparalleled handle on the delicate fusion between sample-based manipulation and calming musical ambiance. It takes a lot of skill to have everything going right for you as an artist, and without a doubt Telepath has long ago mastered that art.
It's not an exaggeration to call this record one of the best ones in their golden age of albums. I don't even think I could do it justice, trying to accurately hype up this thing. Let me list some of the customer reviews from this record's bandcamp page:
"One of, if not, telepath's best albums. Every song is smooth as butter, nostalgic yet yearning. Truly captures the feeling of the intense love of a partner. 10/10, Highly recommended."
"Otherworldly and haunting. Somehow uplifting."
"This is high quality vaporwave! It feels like a zero gravity sex night in Tokyo. Extremely recommended."
I mean, actually, could I do better than that? "Zero gravity Tokyo sex"? I don't think I could have come up with a phrase like that in a million years.
If this is your first Telepath album, you're in for a treat. Forget what you think you know about vaporwave, and prepare for a completely new experience. Here and in other Telepath records you're going to be treated to songs that feel more like odysseys; samples and slight snatches of melodies are stretched out and echoed, repeated ad nauseam until they resemble something else, something different, something dreamy. You hear me call a lot of music "hypnotic" on here, but this is really one that hits the nail on the head with that; what else can you do with 14 minute songs but let them entrance you?
That video right above is the official music video for "深夜の愛 " (Late-Night Love), one of the best songs on the album in my opinion. It's the whole style distilled into one perfect package; a single upbeat melody repeats and evolves over the course of fourteen (14) minutes, never quite reaching a strong concrete point where you're able to pin down any sort of traditional song structure. It just keeps going and going, getting better and better; to reflect this, the video shows us a nameless woman wandering around a brightly lit cityscape, clearly being admired by the camera and clearly enjoying the attention. People keep calling this "dreamy", because it is!
Most of the tracks here really do go on and on. It's a little difficult to go in-depth with them all as many of them are quite subtle and drawn-out; plus, half the fun of listening is to discover the surprises for yourself.
It's quite possible you could get bored waiting for track elements to unfold or get more complex. If you're looking for something that's going to excite or surprise you, I'm afraid this isn't for you - but if you like a peaceful, sublime experience that will draw the dreams and invoke memories out of you, you're in the right place.
Another personal favorite song "魅惑的な美しさ" (Enchanting Beauty) [video for this below] steps things up to the extreme, with its 20 minute runtime and ghost-like vocals that end up emerging throughout it. If it sounds like there's a subtly romantic element here, that's because there is - from the record title to the videos and all of the track titles themselves, there's a melancholy "lost love" theme that ties everything together beautifully. Have you ever had the bliss of a pleasant memory regarding a lost love? It doesn't necessarily mean you want to return to those days, but you can enjoy the past for what it was, even admiring it with a bittersweet smile. That very timeless sensation - that nostalgia - is the sort of thing Telepath is an expert at drawing out. That's what you'll find here.
Isn't it a wonder when someone can achieve a flawless distillation of a specific sound or emotion? Isn't that communication, that connection, the very point of making art? It's very likely I'm reading too much into this, but there's nothing wrong with loving something too much, is there? Lamentation, mourning, melancholy, enrapture, it's all there, achingly bittersweet facets of emotions we never let ourselves feel as much as we should...
Let yourself fall in love again with the ghosts of the past.
DREAM...
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