Telenova’s Top 10 Things That Inspired Their Debut Album ‘Time Is A Flower’

Three years and two EP’s into their short but ascendant career, Telenova release their debut album Time Is A Flower, out now, alongside a brand new single Margot.

The distinctive universe of Telenova – a shadowy, sample driven alt-pop with prominent trip-hop and electronica influence, plus a touch of playful energy – is the design of lead vocalist, songwriter and filmmaker Filipina-Australian Angeline Armstrong and multi-instrumentalists Edward Quinn and Joshua Moriarty.

Their debut album Time Is A Flower is a sleek alt-pop record, fuelled by a warm darkness. While previous EPs had a delicacy that came with strangers slowly becoming friends, Telenova’s debut album is bigger, more confident and less polite as the band explore faith, hope, pain and beauty through revealing, conversational lyrics.

The band tell Hi Fi Way their top ten things that inspired the album…

ED

The Black Keys

I’m not sure why this band came to mind first, but I remember doing a regional tour last year at around the same time as recording, and we’d always come back to The Black Keys’ records when we needed to play something in the van that suited everyone. Something about the effortlessness of their songwriting and the undeniably hooky riffs makes for such easy, but also rewarding listening. Our song January was loosely based off a groove of theirs too.

Swimming

As a collective, we’ve come to the conclusion that there is no better form of exercise than swimming. When we were in between studio sessions for this album we had a tour of Europe and would make it a priority to get to the pool before we embarked on a day of driving. And after a long day in the studio, sometimes there’s nothing better than getting away from everything and heading down to your local pool and smashing out some laps. I think Josh put it perfectly when he once said ‘no one ever regrets doing some laps’. Extra points if you hit up the sauna after too.

Line 6 Delay Pedal

This pedal truly possesses the magic sauce. It’s all over Time Is A Flower and always manages to spark some type of creativity when we crack it out. I’m not too technical in general, so I can’t really explain why it’s a supreme delay pedal. It just is. I feel it in my bones. It can mask some pretty shoddy playing too, which suits me just fine. I especially like how it’s harnessed on Margot in that opening guitar part. Has this grit and light distortion that sits perfectly in the mix.

Cafe Toast

We wrote the majority of this record in Fitzroy and absolutely HOUNDED this joint over the year or so it took to write. We still go there quite a bit when we’re together actually. It’s a quaint situation with the most delightful coffee/sandwich combos. I’d recommend the wasabi tuna on toasted Turkish bread, but if that’s not your style, they’re sure to have something to satiate. I feel like I’m some unqualified food critic writing this right now so I’m going to stop, but just know that THIS PLACE RULES

ANGELINE

T.S Elliot’s The Four Quartets

This is a little cheeky to include because I actually only read these four poems during the final days of studio recording. Meaning the lyrics and songs on our album were already written and couldn’t possibly have been inspired by The Four Quartets (unless time isn’t linear after all and informs past, present and future in mysterious ways we don’t understand?). Curiously, these poems are SO on par with the themes explored across Time Is A Flower that it would be easy to think they were directly inspired by it. Reflections on the nature of time, faith and spiritual enlightenment – the human longing for the eternal and lasting in a world that oftentimes seems defiantly ephemeral, disappointing and finite. “

“Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
Into the rose-garden.
Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future
And time future contained in time past. (I)
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.”

Gothic Romantic Literature

I seem to be bringing out all the nerdy responses to these questions. I was obsessed with Gothic Romantic literature in high school (Jane Ayre, Wuthering Heights, Frankenstein) and for that matter, the wider art movement surrounding it (romanticism in music like Chopin, and painters in the romanticism period like John Martin and JMW Turner). I love the post-enlightenment period return to a more romantic, idealized, imaginative exploration of human emotion and longing, the interplay of the spiritual realm (ghosts and spectres and darkness amidst the light). That whole tone definitely informs a lot of the sonic and visual world that I was bringing to the table as we were creating this album.

Baths

I love long baths with a book and candles or just listening to an album (sometimes through the warbly filtered ‘underwater sound’ that happens when your head is literally underwater in the bath). I probably made myself my landlord’s enemy because I also love the foggy haze that comes from not using the exhaust fan (so moody and so warm, it’s like having a bath in a cloud) that I’ve likely caused long term structural and water damage to the walls (sorry!). I think a lot of inspiration enters my mind in the times where I finally have a chance to just stop DOING and just let thoughts and questions and ideas float into my brain.

JOSH

Bass

Yes that right, of course the bass player wants to talk about bass, it’s the unsung hero of all bands and no one ever remembers the bass players names of all the famous groups! Who’s the bass player for Queen? For U2? For Coldplay?? I know them all because I’m a bass nerd, I started off as a guitar player for 20 years but the last 10 years of my life I’ve made the transition to bass player and gosh it feels good. We used a variety of basses on the record, the Greco Rickenbacker copy, a couple of Hofners, a Fender Jazz, a Mustang, you name it we played it on the record. Fingers or palm mute with a pick, you name it, bass is a winner.

Headgap Studios

This is by far my fave studio in this country and I’ve been to a bunch i swear! Finn who runs the joint has everything you could possibly need. There’s a grand piano, an upright, a wurli, a rhodes, a space echo (which we used a lot on the record), a shit tonne of guitars and pedals, all the toys and special effects your heart desires. If you wanna make a record and want a sick producer/engineer Finn Keane is your man and Headgap is the place to do it \m/

Masterwriter

Masterwriter is an online rhyming dictionary you have to pay a subscription for. Yeah sure there is Rhyme Zone for free but Masterwriter kicks it’s arse. When we write the lyrics for Telenova I permanently have this app open, sure of course you still have to do most of the heavy lifting and draw on inspiration and cool phrases you’ve collected but when you are stuck Masterwriter never lets you down. Best 10 bucks or so I’ve ever spent when it comes to music.

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