Gary Lawrence soaks up the well-crafted indie-pop of Teleman... but laments their bewildered lack of stage craft

SOME bands wander on to stage in a state of studied indifference, others race on like homecoming heroes but Teleman’s entrance at the O2 Academy was perhaps the oddest I’ve ever seen.

They simply appeared with barely a whimper from the crowd and stood looking at the sea of faces impassively staring back. It was as if the presence of band and audience came as a surprise to both of them, like they’d been expecting something else entirely.

Someone yelled ‘say something’. I think it was a member of the audience rather than the band but I couldn’t be sure.

The healthy crowd upstairs at Academy 2 was thanks in no small part to the successful single Dusseldorf from the second album, Brilliant Sanity, a jaunty mix of electro-pop and dance that harks back to the late eighties/early nineties.

With two guitars, keyboard and drums they are a tight outfit who stare earnestly out from the stage, slightly bewildered at the reaction to their songs.

You could never accuse Teleman of being over-demonstrative. Frontman Tom Sanders and bassist Pete Cattermoul look like the guys on the counter at Waterstones who know just where you can lay your hands on a really good tofu recipe book. Their idea of audience interaction is an occasional ‘cheers’ and a cheeky remark about Cambridge. You can’t imagine them hurling a TV out of a hotel bedroom window. Their rider must consist of M&S ready meals and a foot spa.

But that’s fine because their songs do the work for them The set had a smattering of the more serious, less dancey, tracks from first album Breakfast. Sanders’ brother Johnny’s retro synth gradually worked the crowd up into something like euphoria, particularly in partnership with the guitars on the Kraftwerk-influenced Not In Control and the insistent intro to the smash hit Dusseldorf.

They returned for a two-song encore, first the excellent indie ballad Christine and finally the arm-waving, chorus-echoing anthem Glory Hallelujah from the new album. And for a moment, just for a moment, the band looked like they were enjoying themselves.

What they lack in stage-craft and audience rapport they make up in spades with catchy, neatly-crafted tunes and clever lyrics. They are a great evening out, just bring your own charisma.

Gary Lawrence