When Telekinesis mastermind Michael Benjamin Lerner set out to record songs for the follow-up to his debut album Telekinesis!, he found himself with no band, a case of vertigo, and a wrecked van. The long-distance relationship that inspired his debut album’s songs of wanderlust had ended, and he had just returned from a much-needed escape to Berlin where he banished himself to a room in the warehouse district to write songs from 9 to 5 each day.

With the original recording date scrapped, Michael was inspired (by the heavy, fuzzy bass in Flin Flon’s A-OK) to buy a bass guitar and, in a sudden burst of inspiration, wrote four more songs for the album.

His second attempt at recording led him to Portland and Jackpot! Studios. Michael and Chris Walla continued their partnership from Telekinesis! and again recorded to tape. They tossed out all the rules—as they are wont to do when they get together—and, as Michael says, “went a little crazy,” with impromptu dance parties and recording drum parts backwards.

The result of all of this is 12 Desperate Straight Lines, twelve new songs of heartache, anger, and even a little hopefulness. Telekinesis has re-emerged with a new band featuring Jason Narducy (Robert Pollard band, Bob Mould band) on bass and Cody Votolato (Jaguar Love, The Blood Brothers) on guitar. The van is fixed, the dizziness is gone, and Michael Benjamin Lerner has returned with more proof that Spin was right when they said, “If you don’t like Telekinesis, your ears don’t work.”