Album Review: Swim Out Past The Breakers by Telethon (by Emma Prew)

When I first heard Telethon and their fourth album, Hard Pop, in 2019 I was completely blown away by their ability to embrace multiple genres flawlessly and create an LP that could quite succinctly be described as ‘epic’. And that was before I had even listened to their previous album – the 30-track, five-part ‘rock opera’ The Grand Spontanean! Telethon are certainly not afraid of doing things a little differently and so I shouldn’t have been even a little surprised when I heard their 2021 album, Swim Out Past The Breakers, for this first time… and yet, wow, they surpassed any expectations I had several times over.

Telethon are a five-piece from Wisconsin consisting of Kevin Tully (lyrics, vocals, rhythm guitar), Erik Atwell (percussion), Alex Meylink (bass), Gene Jacket (keys) and Jack Sibilski (lead guitar). However, on Swim Out Past The Breakers the band are joined by a huge array of guest vocalists and musicians, from Franz Nicolay (The Hold Steady) and Kailynn West (Tiny Stills) to Gary Louris (The Jayhawks) and Devon Kay (Direct Hit, Devon Kay & The Solutions), plus many, many more. You might think that this would be overkill for a ‘punk’ album and leave things sounding disjointed but, if anything, I think it ties the album together in a truly unique way. There is so much going on throughout the 48 minute / 16 track duration of this album that it feels like there’s always something new to discover each and every time I listen to it. And I have listened to this album a lot over the past two months or so since its release.

As I write this, it is Fest weekend and if things had turned out a little differently I would be eagerly counting down the hours until I get to see Telethon live for the first time. Alas, I have to wait another year – hopefully they will play next year as well! So, instead of watching them playing live, I felt it was time that I put my [metaphorical] pen to paper and attempt to review their fifth musical masterpiece.

From the opening track, Shit (Jansport), featuring the aforementioned Franz Nicolay and Kailynn West, which grows from a gentle and soothing to a relentlessly fast-paced power-pop banger in no time at all – with a smattering of polka (I know, what?!) thrown in for good measure – all the way through to the rhythmic and dance-inducing indie punk-style album closer Matrix (One Down At Least), featuring Chris Farren, I feel like there is truly something for everyone on this album.

For pop punk fans, there are plenty of short, bouncy and super catchy tracks on Swim Out Past The Breakers such as Outstandingly (The Riviera) (which even features a Blink 182 reference before diverging into a polka-punk breakdown), Panorama (The Polynesian) (a track that features a sublime combination of glockenspiel-like percussion instrumentation, horns and gang vocals) and the less than a minute long Worm Dirt (perhaps one of the most simple songs on the album which for Telethon still means there’s a fair amount going on). If lengthier, layered, steady building tracks are more your thing then Do You Know What I Mean (Or Not?), featuring Robb Maclean, or House Of The Future, Pt. 4 will certainly not disappoint.

My personal favourite tracks on the album come in as a double whammy at tracks number 10 and 11. The first is Americana fuelled anthem Positively Clark Street which features some skilful synth work from Gene Jacket as well as well-suited guest vocals from Gary Louris of The Jayhawks. This was the one track on the album that I instantly felt the need to recommend to my dad. And that was before I realised who the guest vocals were from – it made a lot more sense when I realised the track featured a member of one of my dad’s favourite bands! In a way that only Telethon can, they completely shake things up with the next track. Cyan does not have even a slight hint of Americana or country music to its sound, instead this is ridiculously catchy ska punk number that seems to be mostly about writing work-based emails. Cyan features guest vocals from Devon Kay which, obviously, are absolutely perfect for the song.

Telethon released a fair few singles from Swim Out Past The Breakers in the run up to its release and, in my opinion, these sounds even better in their respective places in the album’s track list. Self-starter A.E., Checker Drive, the previously discussed Positively Clark Street and Travelator each seem to take on a new lease of life in the full album setting. The songs are also well spread out through the LP so that on your first listen it doesn’t feel like you’ve already heard a continuous chunk of the album before. I’m not sure if that was a conscious decision but I certainly appreciate it.

I can’t even begin to imagine how many hours and just how much effort and care Telethon, and all others involved in Swim Out Past The Breakers, have put into creating this album. All I can say as a listener and fan of the band is that I’m thankful that they persevered with it. Swim Out Past The Breakers is stunning and deserves to be heard by all in the punk scene and beyond. This band is special. This album is quite possibly my album of the year. Go check it out!

Stream and download Swim Out Past The Breakers on Bandcamp here.

Like Telethon on Facebook here.

This review was written by Emma Prew.