The biggest sell on British pop band Teleman may be their style references. Their excellent debut album from earlier this summer, titled Breakfast, was produced by former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler. Their new video for “Skeleton Dance,” which Flavorwire is pleased to premiere below, is influenced by Oskar Schlemmer of the Bauhaus School. Both bring something fresh and endlessly tasteful to Belle & Sebastian-style twee rock.
In “Skeleton Key,” the synth-tinged quartet play with scale, color, movement, and inanimate objects, like citrus fruits and succulent plants. “The video was conceived as a non-narrative, collage-based collection of fun elements and colors,” the band’s Jonny and Tom Sanders told us. “We started with Bauhaus Theatre Mask designs by Oskar Schlemmer, which to our knowledge have never actually been physically made before now. Then we rotated succulents and fruit on a turntable. We combined this with some basic Bhangra dance moves. All the rest was just having fun in the edit. There’s also references throughout to our first video we made for ‘Cristina’.”
Teleman, which features ex-members Pete and the Pirates, will bring their distinctly British sounds stateside next month. They’ve toured with the likes of Suede, Franz Ferdinand, and Metronomy, but they’ll headline this time. Dates here.