When Cathan Coughlan unexpectedly and tragically died in May he left a considerable body of work behind him – 30 years of music as part of Microdisney and Fatima Mansions, as well as his first solo release in 10 years, the acclaimed ‘Song of Co-Aklan’.
This was swiftly followed by ‘a hAon’, under the name Telefis – a collaboration with fellow Irishman, Jacknife Lee (producer of U2 and REM) and it seemed that this brilliantly surreal concept piece would be his final legacy.
However, it appears that Coughlan was in prolific mood with enough material for this second Telefis album to appear, as a very welcome, posthumous release. His new electronic-infused direction, guided by Lee, adds a completely new dimension to Coughlan’s back catalogue – ‘Space Is Us’ as close as he gets to pop music, while ‘Hypnodrome’ is a beat-heavy slice of glam.
Old contemporaries chip in too – the crawling funk of Factory Records alumni A Certain Ratio informs ‘Stock Photo Guy’ while Will Sergeant and Jah Wobble also pay their respects. Recent single ‘The Carthaginians’ nostalgically recalls the Irish “showbands” of the 70s, while the vocoded ‘Strawboy Supernova’ nods to Kraftwerk and Yello.
The pounding ‘Airstrip’ is another high point in a set which stands tall alongside anything from Coughlan’s considerable canon in a collection that can only add to the man’s status as one of the under-appreciated greats of modern music.
This article originally appeared in the Sunderland Echo .