Indie Launchpad Reviews - A Telephone Built For Two

Here is a recent review written at IndieLaunchpad.com. They seem to dig it.

"Although I only reviewed the last release from School for the Dead, back in January, it was actually released in 2004. To say I wasn’t expecting to see another release so quickly after the last review was a bit of an understatement, but there in my mailbox, was the new release, A Telephone Built for Two, and I have to say, after the previous album, I had high expectations.

The CD opens with “Periscope” and that infectious brand of pop hits you square between the eyes. I made the comparison before with the Indie powerhouse group, They Might Be Giants, and indeed there is much the two bands have in common, but there is also definite School for the Dead DNA running through these songs, which is no doubt mostly down to Henning Ohlensbusch, principal songwriter, lead vocalist, guitar, etc. This guy has music in his pores and it shows. That’s not to forget the rest of the band, who manage to round out the sound and remind you it’s not all a one man band.

With some bands, probably quite unfairly I’m looking for that killer track, one that burrows into my brains. With A Telephone Built for Two, I was pleasantly surprised to find not one, but three such tracks. The first is “Save My Place”, a wonderfully simple song, but it really manages to burrow like a happy maggot. Next is “Journal of Lies”, which has a wonderful quirky keyboard arrangement, which reminds me of the soundtrack to the kids movie Bugsy Malone. The third track is “Superhero”, which I have to admit really has that hint of They Might Be Giants flavour, but it’s certainly a nice condiment, making a track to savour.

There were a couple of tracks, that felt a little unbalanced with the rest of the album. The first of those is “Feels Like I Should” with some very forgettable 80’s sounding synth, featured at the beginning and towards the end. The other is “Back to School” with a very awkward country guitar accompaniment, which was certainly not my cup of tea. It’s funny though, as the song itself is very pleasant, but every time that guitar kicked in, I could feel those hackles rise, so to speak.
“Disgruntled Lover” was also a bit of a no no for me, or so I thought, as it has a kind of false, rockabilly start, which I hated, however after 16 seconds the song starts anew, and even though there is still a rockabilly/country flavour it’s not as alarming.

The album rounds off with the wonderful, “Thinking of A Time”, which at first could be the theme tune to Flash Gordon, and then almost morphs into Dolly Parton’s “9-5″. Surely two of the most incredible comparisons to be given to the same song, but it works wonderfully.

Conclusion : So were my great expectations met? They certainly were, with more great pop from an artist I thoroughly enjoy hearing from. Looking forward to what the next album brings, hopefully sooner that 4 years time."

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