Out Now

TELETE

‘Spectator’ EP

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Beautiful and classy, which has quickly become a Telete hallmark. You two make warm, special songs that I want to listen to when I feel cold and un-special, so that’s quite a skill.”  ⭐⭐⭐⭐
– Dave Ruby Howe, triple j Unearthed

“Stunning is an understatement..the dreaminess of Beach House, the ethereal ambience of Azure Ray, and the intimacy of Hope Sandoval”
– Ben Yung, The Revue (CA)

“‘I’m already counting down the days
[to Spectator’s release]… serious mastery”
– Jade Rodrigo, 4ZZZ

I’m moved, this is wonderful.”  ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2
– Tommy Faith, triple j Unearthed

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Following shows with Julia Jacklin, Totally Mild, Stella Donnelly, Hatchie, Ball Park Music, Rainbow Chan and more, as well as support for “dramatic and delicate” new single ‘Like Honey’ from the likes of triple j’s Alex Dyson and Declan Byrne, chamber/dream pop duo Telete (Teh-leh-tee) are thrilled to announce the release of their debut EP ‘Spectator’: eight sad and dreamy songs that explore the world from a distinctly feminine point of view.

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STREAM / BUY ‘SPECTATOR’

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Recorded and mixed entirely from start to finish in producer and good friend Jack Gaby’s bedroom (of Dream Rimmy & DUMBLEACHERS), ‘Spectator’ is a deeply affecting tapestry of sound and emotion, pushed along gently by the beachy hush of a slightly broken Juno 60, the richness of Hayley Ayres’ triple-tracked strings, and Mai Barnes’ delicate, whisper-sung vocals and duet harmonies, delivered sleepily (sometimes quite literally) from underneath a duvet covered in snack crumbs.

Written over “five or six” years, the eight tracks touch on Barnes’s own experiences of being a young teacher (Staffroom), gender politics (Basketball Boy), trauma, sadness, relationships – shrouded together not in common theme, but common outcome.

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“When I started writing music, I was a very quiet and passive person. I’d found myself—perhaps like many other teenage girls—feeling like a spectator, watching the world around me, and being watched at the same time. I felt strangely detached from myself: I didn’t value or trust my mind enough to open my mouth, and my body felt like it had somehow disconnected and become part of the public space. Men leered at me in bars or on the street, and I remember looking back at them, silent and immobile.

When you give voice to experience, you’re not a spectator anymore. You’re not simply looking, or being looked at— you’re being heard. And that is, in a roundabout way, what these songs have meant to me.” – Mai Barnes, Telete

Opening track ‘Drip Dry’, released in early 2017, received airplay on RTRFM and triple j’s Home and Hosed while follow-up ‘Basketball Boy’, a powerful mediation on gendered responses to emotional labour that saw it named “possibly the most important song you’ll hear today” (theMusic.com.au) allowed Telete to embark on their first ever national tour, scoring nods via LNWY, triple j, RTRFM, FBi Radio, Triple R, PBSFM, 4ZZZ, SYN FM and more.

Telete’s “dreampop lullaby” (Born Music Online) ‘Like Honey’ has already oozed its way to rotation with triple j Unearthed and RTRFM, with airplay and support from triple j Home and Hosed, triple j Lunch, FBi Radio, Triple R, PBSFM, 4ZZZ, EUCALYPT and beyond. Plush with thick synths and strings, the track swirls brightly in waltz time around a comforting, centrifugal sadness.

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STREAM / BUY ‘LIKE HONEY’

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Telete

Photo by George Foster

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Drawing inspiration from acts such as BroadcastJulia Holter and Beach HouseTelete weave strings, synth lines and canned percussion together to build warm-hued compositions that simmer underneath intimate vocals. In a live setting, Telete synchronise their looped instruments to build layered, tautly structured songs, accompanied by off-kilter dance moves in an approach on display at events like WAMFest, Hush (An Evening Of Quiet Music) and RTRFM’s Ships In The Night.

‘Spectator’ is available digitally and independently now, launching locally tonight at Perth’s The Bird with a little help from Tanaya Harper, Izatang, Sakidasumi and more.

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Telete

Photo by George Foster

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