Album Review: Telograph EP

It's hard to believe it's been a year since Telograph's first EP, Little Bits of Plastic (review). Since the release of that recording, the band has gone on to build a name for themselves in the D.C. music scene and play shows with Gomez, Robbers on High Street and O.A.R. We gave them the *** treatment back in '06, so it warms our hearts to see them doing so well. Now with their second release, Telograph EP, we're predicting bigger and better things for the band.

Telograph EP isn't necessarily a step in a bold new direction for the band, which is made up of vocalist Andy Boliek, Arash Ardalan, Gary On and Matt Kenchington. Consisting of re-recorded versions of songs off of Little Bits of Plastic as well as a couple of new tracks, Telograph EP is more of a reimagining. Boliek told us this week, "Basically, we wanted to record five songs that we felt were our best songs — regardless of whether we had to re-record old ones. We recorded with reputable producers this time, and we knew the final product was going to be much better quality-wise."

The end result is much more polished and a stronger collection of songs. The three re-recorded tracks — "Beneath Your Feet," "Eye for an Eye" and "We Won't Settle Down" (which made our personal "best songs of 2007" list) — have been altered in subtle ways, not enough to upset fans of the first EP. Some listeners might have a tendency to cling to the original recordings and anything else just sounds foreign, but Telograph manages to escape this trap.