Telenova return with new single 'Teardrop'

Image: Clint Peloso
Published: 7 February 2024

Australian group Telenova, headed by Angeline Armstrong alongside Edward Quinn and Joshua Moriarty, today release their first new music in almost a year with the single ‘Teardrop’, after signing with global label EMI.

Ever since their first release in 2021, Telenova have created music with a quality, depth and cinematic beauty that has marked them out from the crowd as a very special band. ‘Teardrop’ continues in this vein, with a hypnotic beat and a soundscape that is heavily inspired by the 1990s trip-hop sound, with dashes of electronica. Brooding and yearning, Armstrong sings of the tension between different emotions we all feel as humans.

“We wanted to capture the volatile nature of our ever-changing human emotions in this song,” Armstrong says. “I have this innate longing and hope for stability and joy, but in tension to that, often find myself doing and saying things I don’t mean to say or feel. Josh and I were interested in exploring that tension in the lyrics, how sometimes even the journey towards happiness and light can be tinged with a sadness or darkness, ‘a teardrop on the sunshine.”

Also released today is the video for ‘Teardrop’, directed by Armstrong with Claudia Sangiorgi Dalimore (Courtney Barnett, Hiatus Kaiyote). Rich with symbolism and allegory, Armstrong chases, controls and is surrounded by a golden burst of sunlight.

“As a filmmaker I tend to see the colours and imagery of all our songs quite vividly in the songwriting process,” Armstrong explains. “I wanted the ‘Teardrop’ video to have a mythical feel to it, establishing a bit of a mythology as the first part in a triptych of Telenova videos exploring this tension of light and dark within us…Drawn to the transcendent nature of light in romantic era paintings, like John Martin and J.M.W Turner, I wanted to capture this divine longing through the interplay of chasing after an elusive light. The set was inspired by still life paintings to contrast this ‘transcendence’ with representations of the ephemeral and temporal nature of human life. Bringing on Claudia to co-direct resulted in a flurry of beautiful chaos on set as we tried to make every frame feel like a romantic painting in and of itself.”

Since meeting and forming at an APRA SongHubs Songwriting Camp, Telenova have received critical acclaim in Australia, including winning the 2022 AIR Breakthrough Artist award and support from the BBC, as well as building up a huge fanbase with appearances at major festivals across Australia. Their appeal has since gone global, with a support slot for Ruel as well as headline shows saw them perform to over 15,000 people across Europe last year. Now signed with EMI plus a partnership with Fiction Records in the UK and Europe, Telenova are set for even bigger things in 2024. Immersive, cinematic and deeply mesmerising, Telenova will have you deep in the feels after just one listen.

‘Teardrop’ is out now via EMI. You can download and stream here.
Follow Telenova on Instagram and Facebook.
To mark the release of ‘Teardrop’ Telenova will tour across Australia in May plus perform at Athen’s biggest music festival Release in June.

Telenova - The Teardrop Tour
Tickets Here

4 May - Howler, Melbourne
10 May - Crowbar, Sydney
11 May - The Zoo, Brisbane
24 May - Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide
25 May - Amplifier, Perth
15 June - Release Athens, Athens, Greece