Too often, one-man bands sound more like airless construction projects than the organic result of group interaction. Michael Benjamin Lerner, the sole permanent member of Telekinesis, does a remarkable job of avoiding that fate in "Coast Of Carolina." Sure, the song carries a few tell-tale signs of being the product of one guy alone in a studio. It's audible in the way the song rolls, with each instrument pumping on the beat together as Lerner's car cruises through town.
But there's a sense of openness to "Coast Of Carolina" that allows Lerner to breathe much more freely than his lack of full-time bandmates might warrant. He's not simply talking to himself, but rather engaging the listener in the room (or the driver's seat, as the case may be) and calling on him or her to crank up the radio and enjoy a small moment of bliss that has the potential to reverberate well after it's gone. That's one of the reasons why people write songs in the first place, and as Lerner expresses his fervent yearning for a shared experience, he neatly transcends the limitations of the one-man band while hanging on to the focused vision that drove him in the first place.
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