Telekinesis Brings Kinetic Energy to Bumbershoot

There's plenty of good things to say about Telekinesis, but if there's one reason that their set this Saturday at Bumbershoot (EMP/SFM's Sky Church, 8 p.m.) is a can't-miss, it's that it promises to be the most danceable performance on the lineup. Which is sort of crazy, because Michael Lerner, the singer-songwriter who's the heart and soul of the quartet, is, to look at him, a pretty run-of-the-mill Seattle indie rocker, this from a town famous for its too-cool-to-dance indie rock scene. But such is the charm of Telekinesis, whose Merge Records debut Telekinesis! has earned the outfit acclaim as one of the best new acts out of Seattle this year.

Lerner's songs may be about standard indie rock fare--loneliness, alienation, absent girlfriends, and so on--but he makes them work on the strength of his lyrics which, even in the ballad "I Saw Lightning," come off as sincere and sweet. Telekinesis is brilliant power pop hearkening back to Big Star, with super-catchy rockers like "Coast of Carolina" (which lulls you with its folksy intro before launching) and "Tokyo." And then there's "All of a Sudden," a testament to the irresistible danceability of the backbeat that made rock-n'-roll what it is today; crank that song and tell me you can't picture Gidget and her beach-blanket pals twisting to the beat.