Telenova are a Melbourne three-piece with a keen and quirky pop sensibility, filtered through a thrilling cinematic backdrop.
Fronted by the multi-disciplinary artist Angeline Armstrong and backed by the refined musicality of Edward Quinn and Joshua Moriarty, the trio’s excellent and elegant debut EP, Tranquilize, came out on July 2nd (via Pointer Recordings/Remote Control Records).
There’s a widescreen cinematic quality to the Telenova sound: “Cinema For Your Ears”, they say in their Instagram bio, and they really mean it. Their songs evoke a sense of nostalgia for those moments when you were overwhelmed and inspired by watching a poetic film in the theatre. Angeline’s lyrics explore the disillusionment of her generation, heightened through cinematic aesthetics.
Visuals are important to the group too, and Angeline just so happened to be mentored by the legendary Aussie filmmaker Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge!, The Great Gatsby) at NIDA. It makes the self-directed video for the title track ‘Tranquilize’ required viewing, a Lynchian fever dream shot in a Titanic-themed restaurant in Williamstown. They even created a series of fake films for the video, based on old Czech, Japanese, and Hollywood films.
After the release of Tranquilize, we caught up with Joshua and Angeline from the group as part of our popular Get To Know series to find out more about what makes Telenova tick.
Check out ‘Tranquilize’:
Love Indie?
Get the latest Indie news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
How would you describe your music to your grandma?
Josh: Like the Beatles but with computers.
Ange: The soundtrack to grandpa’s favourite Western films, but with a 70’s spin and ‘modern’ drum beats for ‘young people’ made on a laptop.
Tell us about a few of your tracks; their titles and what they’re about?
Josh: ‘Tranquilize’ is about falling in love – the way it can feel so outside of your control and can take you by surprise, in the way a siren song draws you in and leaves you kinda powerless. Like you’ve been tranquilized.
‘Comedian’ is a song that expresses all the things I want to say and be and do for those people in my life who are stuck under a rain cloud. “I could be your pillow…your friend…your potion…your cure…the sunlight spilling underneath your door”.
‘Blue Valentine’ has this overarching picture of a girl who keeps writing her own melodrama and heartache: “in the cinema inside my mind / intoxicated with the trouble I wrote / in the prison of my aching heart”. I’m fascinated by the psychology of the “story we tell ourselves” about ourselves, and the power that can have. Like, how much of the pain and heartache I’ve felt in my own life was completely circumstantial? And how much do we drum up for ourselves because good drama (like in good movies) is perhaps better and easier to cope with and accept, than the mundane day-to-day we can find ourselves in.
What do you love about your hometown?
Josh: Plenty to love about Melbourne. Currently? Not being in Lockdown.
Ange: That’s a tricky one because I was born in New Zealand, but did most of my schooling here in Australia (with yearly month-long visits back to the homeland). So I guess, as far as Melbourne goes – I love the arts and culture scene. I love going to the NGV with my grandma. I love eating out at restaurants that not only nail the flavours but have these beautifully designed spaces and pools of light and a real artistry to how they’re all put together. I love that you can see good music almost every night of the week.
And what I love about Auckland and New Zealand? The people! And the mountains! I feel like us Kiwis are slightly different creatures to the rest of the world, we’re seriously like happy little hobbits just going about our daily business and not being too fussed about anything at all. I love that. Probably something to do with having the cleanest air on the planet and the natural landscape being basically heaven.
Check out ‘Bones’:
Career highlight so far?
Ange: Meeting Ed & Josh and deciding to start this band. Honestly, not a joke. That’s just been an ongoing highlight of my career. Being mentored by Baz Luhrmann at NIDA for film directing was pretty cool too. Maybe that comes in at second place?
Fave non-music hobby?
Josh: Sleeping.
Ange: This year? It seems to be having a long bath when I’m the only one home, lighting a coconut candle and reading without dropping the book in the water.
What’s on your dream rider?
Josh: Three beds, fresh socks and a masseuse.
Ange: A great big claw foot bathtub. Cire Trudon candles. And those fluffy white rugs that look like clouds.
Dream music collaboration?
Ange: Gosh, that changes for me everyday. Air x Telenova would be pretty badass.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Josh: Strictly online.
Ange: The showrunner of an Emmy-Award-Winning musical surrealist drama on HBO that features episodes directed by David Lynch, Spike Jonze, Sofia Copolla, and Wong Kar-Wai. Telenova writes the award-winning soundtrack.
What’s your go-to karaoke song?
Josh: ‘Love Is In The Air’ if we are in this part of the world, otherwise it’s Roy Orbison’s ‘You Got It’, love a power croon.
Ange: ‘Take My Breath Away’ or ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
Josh: Stop trying to sound like Radiohead.
Ange: Do the best with the time given you – Gandalf.
What’s one obsession you have that no one would guess after listening to your music?
Ange: Charli XCX. And Lord of the Rings.
Check out ‘Blue Valentine’:
