Project Description
Snapshot interview
with
TELETE
By Dave Bruce
.
.
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, 4ZZZI’m moved, this is wonderful.” ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2
– Tommy Faith, triple j Unearthed
.
.
How did you first get into music? How did your career begin?
Mai: Well, I started writing songs in high school by turning my cello on the side and pretending it was a guitar. Eventually I figured out how to play an actual guitar and wrote a lot of terrible three-chord songs.
Hayley: I started playing classical violin pretty much fresh out the womb. I only started playing in bands when I was 19 though. And then being a violinist there’s a lot of people wanting violin on their album’s or for a special live performance, so I found myself playing in lots of bands and becoming a part of different projects all the time. It always kept music fresh and exciting for me. And then Mai and I started playing music together 3 years ago.
.
What kind of music did you grow up on? How has your music taste changed since you started?
Mai: As a kid, my dad always played a lot of Aretha Franklin, Burt Bacharach and Brenton Wood— a lot of pop and soul. In my late teens, however, I started listening to dreamy, synth-heavy bands (like Broadcast, Beach House & Julia Holter) and that shaped the kind of music I wrote. But now I’d rather put on Sampa the Great, IAMDDB, Solange, H.E.R., Sudan Archives, SZA or Ravyn Lenae. So there’s a bit of a disjunction between the music we perform and the music that I listen to.
Hayley: My dad was always into Dolly Parton and country singers, so naturally I just got right around Dolly. Then when my older sister started getting into punk music so did I. We’d listen to loads of Millencolin, Lawrence Arms and Ramones. Then as I got older I started really getting into pop music and later hip hop… all the while studying classical. And then in my early adult life I started listening to artists like Bowie and Queen (bit of a late bloomer). So I guess long story short, I have a love for everything. Because I started playing in bands a bit later than most, I already had a broad appreciation for lots of different music and so the style is constantly adapting as I learn and hear new ideas.
.
How do you find the balance between your everyday life and your musical one?
Mai: I’m a high school English teacher, so that takes up 99% of my time and mental energy. Music is definitely a peripheral project for me.
Hayley: I don’t, they’re kind of one and the same.
.
STREAM / BUY ‘SPECTATOR’
.
You’ve just released your new EP “Spectator”. Always feels good to get the job completed, but especially since it has been 5 or 6 years in the making? Can you describe its origins and evolution? Any special tracks that mean more than others?
Mai: When I started writing the songs on the EP many years ago, I was a very quiet and passive person. I’d found myself—perhaps like many other young women—feeling like a spectator, watching the world around me, and being watched at the same time. The eight tracks on the EP were each borne from different situations. Some were about being a young teacher; others grappled with gender politics; some were about trauma or sadness or failed relationships. What bound them together wasn’t a thematic similarity, but a shared outcome. 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. That’s what all of those songs meant to me: I learned how to talk through writing music.
.
Bedrooms aren’t the general location one thinks of when recording an EP. Was that a location of choice, or just something that evolved over time?
Mai: I’ve always loved the nostalgic, intimate sound of bedroom recordings. Many of my favourite albums were made in bedrooms—like Julia Holter’s Ekstasis, or Molly Nilsson’s “These Things Take Time”.
Hayley: Most of our instrument tracking requires one or 2 mics at a time, so we haven’t really needed to use a studio space at all. Budgets are tight for all bands, so the fact that we could get away with recording in a bedroom space was both financially beneficial as well as being a much more peaceful and low pressure environment to record in.
.
How do you see your sound progressing in the future? Who are and have been your inspirations?
Mai: I’m not too sure. I’d like to work on my production skills and improve the percussive elements of the songs.
.
.
.
.
“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
.
If someone had never listened to Telete before, what song of yours would you recommend to them?
Mai: I think Basketball Boy is pretty indicative of our sound. Or Mother Mary.
Hayley: Basketball Boy and Like Honey are the obvious picks but I’ve always had a soft spot for Silk Carapace and Jack put some really cute effects on the violin that warm it up.
.
Telete has been a number of years in the making. Where do you envision yourself to be in the next 3-5 years?
Mai: I honestly can’t even imagine anything 3-5 months from now.
.
Do you have any plans to tour the EP in 2018? Do you have any plans for an album?
Mai: At this point we’re just happy that we finished the EP!
.
STREAM / BUY ‘LIKE HONEY’
.
Photo by George Foster
.
If you could pick absolutely anyone to bring on tour with you, whom would you pick? (Dead or Alive)
Mai: The cat from Sabrina the Teenage Witch. I just feel like he would be fun to have along for the ride.
Hayley: Dolly Parton. Obviously.
.
Are there any venues or locations you aspire to play in the future? What are your major goals or milestones for the future?
Mai: I don’t really have any aspirations. Haha.
Hayley: I’ve always wanted to play Mona Foma, I always hear good things. Plus Tassie is a dream.
.
Finally, this is a paragraph dedicated to some quick discovery. May sound corny, but for the fans, can you tell me your favorite album, artist, movie, place, drink, meal and person (living or dead) and some brief reasons why? Answer some or all please?
Mai: My favourite album is probably “The Birds and the BEE9” by Sampa the Great. I love mojitos, Shirley Jackson’s novels, spaghetti, the underneath part of the Fremantle traffic bridge, and Leslie Knope.
Hayley: My biggest problem is there are about ten answers for each of these.
.
Photo by George Foster
.
Connect with TELETE
.
.
AMNPLIFY – DB
My nickname is “The Amnplifier”. Why? Because around here my focus is on being a conduit for providing greater outcomes that people come here for. My day to day “work” is living in the moment, and I love helping others concentrate on finding their connection to themselves through their experiences.
Why start a music environment? The truth is I love music, I love writing, and I love life. I work with musicians every day, and I feel certain that I will be until they put me in the ground. I have been managing people in businesses of some sort for over thirty five years so along the way I have developed some “wisdom” from my regular and constant “observations”.
Amnplify your experience. That is what we want you to do here, and if you want to let me know why you do, or don’t, shoot me a message on Facebook.
Hope you enjoy yourself here and find something that hits you somewhere.
[to Spectator’s release]… serious mastery”
– Jade Rodrigo, 4ZZZI’m moved, this is wonderful.” ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2
– Jade Rodrigo, 4ZZZ
I’m moved, this is wonderful.” ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2
– Tommy Faith, triple j Unearthed
.
.
How did you first get into music? How did your career begin?
Mai: Well, I started writing songs in high school by turning my cello on the side and pretending it was a guitar. Eventually I figured out how to play an actual guitar and wrote a lot of terrible three-chord songs.
Hayley: I started playing classical violin pretty much fresh out the womb. I only started playing in bands when I was 19 though. And then being a violinist there’s a lot of people wanting violin on their album’s or for a special live performance, so I found myself playing in lots of bands and becoming a part of different projects all the time. It always kept music fresh and exciting for me. And then Mai and I started playing music together 3 years ago.
.
What kind of music did you grow up on? How has your music taste changed since you started?
Mai: As a kid, my dad always played a lot of Aretha Franklin, Burt Bacharach and Brenton Wood— a lot of pop and soul. In my late teens, however, I started listening to dreamy, synth-heavy bands (like Broadcast, Beach House & Julia Holter) and that shaped the kind of music I wrote. But now I’d rather put on Sampa the Great, IAMDDB, Solange, H.E.R., Sudan Archives, SZA or Ravyn Lenae. So there’s a bit of a disjunction between the music we perform and the music that I listen to.
Hayley: My dad was always into Dolly Parton and country singers, so naturally I just got right around Dolly. Then when my older sister started getting into punk music so did I. We’d listen to loads of Millencolin, Lawrence Arms and Ramones. Then as I got older I started really getting into pop music and later hip hop… all the while studying classical. And then in my early adult life I started listening to artists like Bowie and Queen (bit of a late bloomer). So I guess long story short, I have a love for everything. Because I started playing in bands a bit later than most, I already had a broad appreciation for lots of different music and so the style is constantly adapting as I learn and hear new ideas.
.
How do you find the balance between your everyday life and your musical one?
Mai: I’m a high school English teacher, so that takes up 99% of my time and mental energy. Music is definitely a peripheral project for me.
Hayley: I don’t, they’re kind of one and the same.
.
STREAM / BUY ‘SPECTATOR’
.
You’ve just released your new EP “Spectator”. Always feels good to get the job completed, but especially since it has been 5 or 6 years in the making? Can you describe its origins and evolution? Any special tracks that mean more than others?
Mai: When I started writing the songs on the EP many years ago, I was a very quiet and passive person. I’d found myself—perhaps like many other young women—feeling like a spectator, watching the world around me, and being watched at the same time. The eight tracks on the EP were each borne from different situations. Some were about being a young teacher; others grappled with gender politics; some were about trauma or sadness or failed relationships. What bound them together wasn’t a thematic similarity, but a shared outcome. 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. That’s what all of those songs meant to me: I learned how to talk through writing music.
.
Bedrooms aren’t the general location one thinks of when recording an EP. Was that a location of choice, or just something that evolved over time?
Mai: I’ve always loved the nostalgic, intimate sound of bedroom recordings. Many of my favourite albums were made in bedrooms—like Julia Holter’s Ekstasis, or Molly Nilsson’s “These Things Take Time”.
Hayley: Most of our instrument tracking requires one or 2 mics at a time, so we haven’t really needed to use a studio space at all. Budgets are tight for all bands, so the fact that we could get away with recording in a bedroom space was both financially beneficial as well as being a much more peaceful and low pressure environment to record in.
.
How do you see your sound progressing in the future? Who are and have been your inspirations?
Mai: I’m not too sure. I’d like to work on my production skills and improve the percussive elements of the songs.
.
.
.
.
“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
.
If someone had never listened to Telete before, what song of yours would you recommend to them?
Mai: I think Basketball Boy is pretty indicative of our sound. Or Mother Mary.
Hayley: Basketball Boy and Like Honey are the obvious picks but I’ve always had a soft spot for Silk Carapace and Jack put some really cute effects on the violin that warm it up.
.
Telete has been a number of years in the making. Where do you envision yourself to be in the next 3-5 years?
Mai: I honestly can’t even imagine anything 3-5 months from now.
.
Do you have any plans to tour the EP in 2018? Do you have any plans for an album?
Mai: At this point we’re just happy that we finished the EP!
.
STREAM / BUY ‘LIKE HONEY’
.
Photo by George Foster
.
If you could pick absolutely anyone to bring on tour with you, whom would you pick? (Dead or Alive)
Mai: The cat from Sabrina the Teenage Witch. I just feel like he would be fun to have along for the ride.
Hayley: Dolly Parton. Obviously.
.
Are there any venues or locations you aspire to play in the future? What are your major goals or milestones for the future?
Mai: I don’t really have any aspirations. Haha.
Hayley: I’ve always wanted to play Mona Foma, I always hear good things. Plus Tassie is a dream.
.
Finally, this is a paragraph dedicated to some quick discovery. May sound corny, but for the fans, can you tell me your favorite album, artist, movie, place, drink, meal and person (living or dead) and some brief reasons why? Answer some or all please?
Mai: My favourite album is probably “The Birds and the BEE9” by Sampa the Great. I love mojitos, Shirley Jackson’s novels, spaghetti, the underneath part of the Fremantle traffic bridge, and Leslie Knope.
Hayley: My biggest problem is there are about ten answers for each of these.
.
Photo by George Foster
.
|
|
.
.
AMNPLIFY – DB
My nickname is “The Amnplifier”. Why? Because around here my focus is on being a conduit for providing greater outcomes that people come here for. My day to day “work” is living in the moment, and I love helping others concentrate on finding their connection to themselves through their experiences.
Why start a music environment? The truth is I love music, I love writing, and I love life. I work with musicians every day, and I feel certain that I will be until they put me in the ground. I have been managing people in businesses of some sort for over thirty five years so along the way I have developed some “wisdom” from my regular and constant “observations”.
Amnplify your experience. That is what we want you to do here, and if you want to let me know why you do, or don’t, shoot me a message on Facebook.
Hope you enjoy yourself here and find something that hits you somewhere.
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