Indie guitar pop used to be a simple equation. Sweet melodic vocals over rushes of energetic guitar chords. It was music you could dance to, music to romance to. Somewhere along the way things changed and the pure side of indie pop merged with punk and post punk, adding a dissonance and edge to the music. Michael Benjamin Lerner is essentially the one-man band Telekinesis and on the new album Telekinesis! he has created another pure pop nugget in the lineage of Weezer, Death Cab For Cutie and The Shins.

The DCFC link is strengthened with the band’s Chris Walla producing, engineering and mixing Telekinesis! With Lerner playing all instruments the duo recorded and mixed a song a day, a process that enabled them to retain a fresh spontaneous feel to the music. The melodies bounce and swing and the whole thing is overwhelmingly infectious. ‘Tokyo’ conjures up images of audiences singing and smiling in unison upon hearing it live.

Lerner is clever enough to realise that everyone gets sick if they have too much sugar. To balance proceedings he has included songs like the darker more shadowy ‘Calling All Doctors’ and ‘Foreign Room’ which holds a tad more grit and bite to it than many of the other songs.

Weezer is ever present in the harmonies and Lerner’s smooth clean vocal delivery. Their 1994 debut set the template for modern indie pop that took influence from the Beach Boys, 50’s rock n roll and the power pop of bands like Big Star and to an extent The Ramones. Lerner has built on that and added the sensitivities of more recent music and the result is the balancing act he nearly perfects.

‘Imaginary Friend’ kicks off with a nursery rhyme sing song verse that circles the infectious main riff of the song. It is simplicity at its best. ‘Coast of Carolina’ begins like a Sparklehorse refrain before the burst of oxygen arrives in the backbeat and chopping guitar. Lerner somehow takes the song to another level with the elevated chorus all heavenly and soaring like a lost anthem looking for space to land on earth.

Telekinesis! is the type of album needed in these times of economic stress and uncertainty. There will be others who will document the doom and gloom but an antidote is always needed to provide some light and hope. This album will carry many through the winter and its irresistible charm will still be hanging around to celebrate the next summer. An album for all seasons.