The Telescopes have announced they will be releasing a new album, called ‘Stone Tape’, via Rome-based label Yard Press. Today they are sharing “The Desert In Your Heart”, the lead track from this long-play. This album follows their ninth album As Light Return, released in July of this year. The telescopes kick off their European tour on October 25th in London, England.

The Telescopes’ new six-track offering inaugurates Yard Press’ new series of record productions. Curated by Giandomenico Carpentieri, rooted in the desire to create albums that are developed in close collaboration with the artists involved. The starting point is to create a concept album specially designed for Yard Press, within a free environment without creative limits, where artists can pursue the most experimental and conceptual projects.

Stone Tape is described as a concept album inspired by the “Stone Tape Theory”, theorized by Thomas Charles Lethbridge in 1961. The archaeologist, parapsychologist and explorer developed the idea that inanimate materials can absorb energy from living beings, and that this mental electrical energy, released during emotional or traumatic events, could somehow be “stored” in such materials and “reproduced” under certain conditions.

The Telescopes
Stone Tape
Track List

01 Become The Sun
02 The Speaking Stones
03 The Desert In Your Heart
04 Everything Must Be
05 Silent Water
06 Dead Inside

It has been 30 years since Stephen Lawrie founded The Telescopes. One of the more interesting bands to be on Creation Records, influencing The Brian Jonestown Massacre and the whole shoegaze, space rock and psych movements, The Telescopes are the creative vision of Stephen Lawrie with a revolving line up. Formed in 1987, they released their first record in 1988, a split flexi-disc with Loop. A string of releases followed for Cheree Records, What Goes On Records and Creation Records.

Not long after touring with Spacemen 3, Primal Scream and The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Telescopes were headlining tours themselves with support from the likes of Slowdive, Ride, The Cranes, Bleach, Bark Psychosis and Whipping Boy. The band eventually transitioned from their noise origins towards a more brooding psychedelic sound.

Following the release of their second album in 1992, Lawrie put the group on hold, returning in 2002 with a renewed vigour. The late great John Peel, for whom they recorded two sessions, heralded their return and championed their ‘Third Wave’ album, exclaiming “The Telescopes have resurfaced and I am amazed and glad they are still practicing their mysterious art”.

The band will tour in support of this album starting in January 2018. In the meantime, you can catch them live during their European tour in support of ‘As Light Return’.

The Telescopes
Tour Dates

Oct. 25 London, UK – The Brewhouse
Oct. 26 Brighton, UK – Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar
Oct. 27 Hartlepool, UK – The Studio
Oct. 31 Bilbao, Spain – Kafe Antzokia
Nov. 1 Saragossa, Spain – Dabadaba
Nov. 2 Madrid, Spain – Moby Dick Club
Nov. 3 Leiria, Portugal – Texas Bar
Nov. 4 Lisbon, Portugal – Sabotage Club
Nov. 5 Badajoz, Spain – Mercantil
Nov. 6 Pamplona, Spain – Nebula Bar
Nov. 7 Barcelona, Spain – Sala Upload
Nov. 8 Tarragona, Spain – Sala el Cau
Nov. 9 Perpignan, France – Allez Viens
Nov. 10 Martigny, Switzerland – La Caves
Nov. 11 Bologna, Italy – Freakout
Nov. 12 Roma, Italy – Fanfulla
Nov. 15 Nuremberg, Germany – Z-Bau
Nov. 16 Halle, Germany – Hühnermanhattan
Nov. 17 Copenhagen, Denmark – Venue TBA
Nov. 18 Aalborg, Denmark – 1000Fryd
Nov. 19 Berlin, Germany – Badehaus Berlin
Nov. 20 Koln, Germany – Sonic Ballroom
Nov. 21 Paris, France – Supersonic
Nov. 22 Cardiff, UK – The Moon