Track of the Day: Telefís - 'Falun Gong Dancer'

Cork musician Cathal Coughlan of Microdisney and Jacknife Lee have released their new single 'Falun Gong Dancer' under their Telefís project moniker.

Coughlan and Fatima Mansions only just released solo album Songs Of Co-Alkan back in March, but he’s back with Telefís (Gaeilge for 'television').

Jacknife Lee is known for his work alongside the likes of U2, The Cars, The Killers, Crystal Castles, REM and Two Door Cinema Club; as well as his own solo offerings. He recently dropped a nearly self-titled album The Jacknife Lee in August; which featured contributions from Genesis Owusu, Beth Ditto, Aloe Blacc, Open Mike Eagle, and many others

A full-length album from Telefís, produced during lockdown and titled a hAon, is set to supposedly “express a ‘corrosive nostalgia'” when it's released on February 11th. The LP follows previously previewed singles 'We Need' and 'Mister Imperator' and now 'Falun Gong Dancer'.

The video for ‘We Need’ featured some well-known Irish personalities off the TV manipulated to sing the song’s lyrics. The pair described the song as a “Theocratic Electropop track”.

Third single 'Falun Gong Dancer' takes things to another electronic level, manipulating the concept of time.

“Silence can cause tension,” explains Lee. “Even when recording the song, the pausing became both comforting and frustrating. When I listen to the song now I can’t help but try to alter time, trying to force the next line to come sooner… When the line does come it’s soothing and beautiful but the lyric is complex and doesn’t resolve anything. It confuses my already recently disturbed perception of time.”

“Each episode describes a further incident in his romantic pursuit of the dancer of the song’s title,” adds Coughlan, “as he (over-?)identifies with her perceived struggles, and hopes to find common cause with her—for his own depleted condition to become their common cause, perhaps. Implicit is the narrator’s ticking internal clock, which must surely count down to zero before long. Time is out of joint, and the narrator has been repelled by or expelled from his natural habitat, although we do not learn where his home is or was.”

The visual is a uniquely sci-fi, abstract narrative showcasing a woman’s departure from earth.

“Just as a unique and powerful piece of music can transport the listener to new and thrilling emotional territory, to be given the opportunity to create the visuals for such a special song left me no choice but to discover images and inspiration that were unexpected yet timeless,” shares the video’s director Matt Mahurin. “The daring expanses of silence, yearning vocals, and compelling lyrics gave me the gift of exploring the essential of the earthly and the curiosity of the cosmic.”

Pre-order a hAon here.

Check out the dystopian video for 'Falun Gong Dancer' below:

Read Jacknife Lee's 100 Voices #AllAgainstRacism from this month's Hot Press issue here.