JONNY TELAFONE - Romeo Must Cry

Jonny Telafone is a Canberra-expat, Melbourne-based auteur, working
in a genre that could be best described as post-apocalyptic R'n'B.
Romeo Must Cry is Jonny's first official album, after a series of digital
and cassette releases stretching back to the late 2000s, This period
culminated in Chapter Music's 2012 self-titlted compilation, which
took the form of a four song seven inch single, accompanied by a 20
track CD career overview.
Romeo Must Cry is a new chapter for Jonny Telafone, his most
clearly articulated vision yet, The album presents a darkly sexual
near future, both disturbing and alluring, The world could end at any
minute, oblivion lurks around every corner, but there are still human
connections to be made amidst a gleaming metropolis.
So steamy, seductive first single The Prayer (as posted on Pitchfork,
Indie Shuffle, Flavorwire etc) is contrasted against the bleak fatalism
of Inferno, the cyberpunk urgency of Carry Me Far Away and the
disarming sweetness of Strange World.
It's an intensely personal vision, with only a handful of outside contributions.
Waking Up Crying features a verse from rising LA rapper
Bones, who featured an earlier version of the track on his 2013 mixtape
Paid Programming, The Ocean Party's Liam Halliwell plays
guitar on the epic Inferno, and Sam McCusker of noiseniks Orbits
shreds on Neuromancer, The Prayer was produced with Forces maverick
Alex Akers, while title track Romeo Must Cry (bookending the
album in two distinct versions) was produced with Lachlan Thomas of
Danger Beach/TV Colours.
From start to finish, the album is a journey from innocence, love and
hope, through to steely-eyed despair, In Jonny's words, "Romeo
Must Cry is a tragic pseudo-religious sci-fi epic that details the rise
and fall of a lovesick hero slowly descending into madness and eventually
death, Trapped in a futuristic nightmare, he loses his great love
along with his mind, his life and his very soul...forever."

Vinyl release of Jonny Telafone - Romeo Must Cry. Released through Chapter Music and available on LP.