There’s so much going on throughout the 16 track album (side note: normally I would consider 16 songs to be far too many for an album but not here) that, despite having listened to it seemingly non-stop since its release, it feels like there are always new things to discover. They’re a band who are not afraid of doing things a little differently and somehow they still managed to surpass any expectations I might have had when they released Swim Out Past The Breakers in August this year. You might think that greatly anticipating an album could lead to disappointment but that was never going to be the case with Telethon. Like Sincere Engineer, the new album from Wisconsin five-piece power-pop band Telethon was one I was very much looking forward to. If you haven’t listened to it, now is the time! You won’t be disappointed. Despite the amount of guest musicians involved in this project, I can’t help but feel that The First One has fallen under the radar a little bit. Lyrically, the album tackles themes of mental health, friendship and politics – topics that I know are incredibly relatable in the world of punk rock and beyond. There’s elements of folk, reggae and straight-up punk rock on show here and no two songs sound alike. Genre-wise, The First One is first and foremost a ska punk album but there’s an awful lot more to it than that. What makes this album so great is quite simply how good the songs are. But that’s not what makes this album so impressive, nor why it appears so high on my end of year list this year. The First One is an album that has been over four years in the making and features over 130 different musicians from all over the world. You might not know who Andy B is (former Fandangle and New Riot bass player), but I bet you’re aware of many of musicians who make guest appearances on this album – members of Less Than Jake,, Random Hand, Call Me Malcolm and Lead Shot Hazard, to namecheck but a few bands.
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