BIG STIR RECORDS is thrilled to announce the forthcoming release of a brand new album from THE CORNER LAUGHERS. The longtime and beloved California indie-pop band returns to beguile listeners once again with Temescal Telegraph, a ten song collection exploring themes from acceptance and loss to climate change, childhood, and the nature of time itself. The album, their fifth overall and first for BSR, is out June 5 on CD and download, and can be pre-ordered now at www.bigstirrecords.com/store and wherever music is sold.
The Corner Laughers' past projects, from their inception through 2015’s critically acclaimed Matilda Effect and leader Karla Kane’s 2017 solo debut have drawn from a variety of guest contributions from around the globe. For their 2020 return, Kane (vocals, ukulele and most songwriting), Charlie Crabtree (drums), KC Bowman and Khoi Huynh (sharing guitar, bass and piano duties) recorded their new LP quickly and entirely in the intimate setting of Bowman’s Timber Trout studio. Set in the Temescal neighborhood of Oakland, the result is grounded in an organic, cohesive and present sound emblematic of the fresh start and immediacy of the process.
It couldn't have been anticipated that so soon after the record's completion, a global pandemic would deny us all that simple magic of playing music together in a room. The songs, however, hum with warmly eerie prescience. “Yes I know that life means letting go, but I will hold on just a little longer” sings Kane on the lead single and video “The Accepted Time” as the groove brims with uplifting melancholy. Echoes of other times and places – often the distant past, frequently England – ornament the likes of the ebullient “Lilac Line” and “Skylarks of Britain” – but they're crafted with a wry complexity in their DNA that profoundly resonates with these times. And the affectionately unflinching depictions of the natural cycle of seasons, life, death and rebirth that inform “Wren In The Rain”, the Martin Newell-penned “Goodguy Sun”, and even the cover art could not be more relevant today.
Temescal Telegraph plays with micro and macro lenses, connecting detailed personal experiences with the cosmic scale. Expect to encounter bees in harmony, ghosts, fallen leaves and omniscient vultures. Moods meander between wistful yearning and exhilaration. A simple walk home becomes an entire universe encapsulated in a moment. To quote one of its songs, “It’s alright to care.”