The Corner Laughers - Temescal Telegraph (2020)

Californian power pop quartet The Corner Laughers always had a healthy dose of folk into their songs. The band's songwriter and singer is a versatile ukulele player and this instrument is all over the songs on their new album Temescal Telegraph. Nature in all its facets and the passing of time are the main themes, with optimism and genuine worries playing catch. Changeling and The Accepted Time are like two sides of the coin, with the former being the younger version of the latter. They revisited two songs from Karla Kane's King's Daughters Home For Incurables, The Lilac Line and Skylarks of Britain, giving them the full band treatment and enhancing the latter with an extended psychedelic coda.

Temescal Telegraph has West Coast written all over it, with its bright sound and crystal clear production. Accessible yet intricate and thoughtful songs, whose layers become more clear and mesmerizing after each listen - the musical equivalent of a kaleidoscope.