PRESS:

"This ain’t no country musicor southern rock, folks. – The Tide and The Current is a big wonderful melodic layered organized mess of sound – bridging indie-rock with folk, orch-pop and alt-country that simply defies categorization. Ambitious, ornate, sprawling yet intimate...this one’s a keeper folks" WXPN Pennsylvania 

"The Buzz: Sprawling Fort Worth, TX septet write alarming small songs, ornamented with accordion and violin - quiet little alt-country numbers that work their way toward irresistible choruses.
Listen If: You wish Ryan Adams would settle down a little, recruit six of his close friends and write that way-out-west record you know he’s capable of.
Key Track: The quiet, yearning “Shake Your Fist,” where vocalist Chris Johnson’s searching tenor stretches out long and pained over gently sparkling banjo and piano, directing the song into a riveting, convulsive chorus." 
- Rolling Stone

One of the most essential bands in the entire state, never mind North Texas. By now, Telegraph Canyon has perfected the art of skating as close as humanly possible to upstaging headliners. - DFW.com

Telegraph Canyon has risen to the position of being a local institution. The septet plowed through their set with authority and even earned an encore – a unique accomplishment for an opening act – which they performed acoustic at the very front of the stage. Judging by the standing ovation they received after their set, one would think they were the nationally touring headliners performing Wednesday. - Pegasusnews.com

Spinner.com SXSW 2010 Featured Artist

SXSW 2010 Austin Statesman Saturday Night Pick

"The Tide and The Current" #1 Album of The Year
Dallas Observer, Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Real Roots (Netherlands)

"Shake Your Fist" #1 Song of The Year  - Dallas Observer

"The Tide and The Current", Best Area Album Release of the 00's - Dallas Observer 
"The Tide and the Current is a grabbing listen, thrashing listeners about at times, slowly coasting them along at others. Credit Centro-matic's Will Johnson and his production for pulling this record out of the Fort Worth seven-piece, but only so much: It's head songwriter Chris Johnson who truly shines here, his affecting Texas/Louisiana drawl serving as the compelling centerpiece amidst an album filled with opulent instrumentation and impeccable beyond-local-comparison arrangement."

Top 10 Best Concerts - #3 Telegraph Canyon / Old 97's at Ball Performance Hall - Dallas Observer
"In the cavernous 2,000-capacity room, which normally plays home to operas and symphonies, Telegraph Canyon enraptured the slow-arriving audience with its carefully arranged, delicately preformed baroque rock; Chris Johnson's voice trembled throughout the 11-year-old performance hall and the band's music slowly built to crescendos that crept up to the rafters and wormed their way into the compelled crowd's guts. It was an impressive debut for the band in a room such as this--something culled as much from the jaw-dropping performance as from the crowd's enthusiastic applause at the end of each song."

#2 Album of The Year - Pegasus News and 102.1 (Clear Channel) The Edge

#10 Top Texas Album of The Year - KERA (NPR) 
"pigeonhole-defying band that fuses brooding urgency with an ethereal intimacy reminiscent of the Flaming Lips."

Top 10 Album of The Year - Fort Worth Star-Telegram 

DFW.com (FW Star-Telegram) Top Stories of 2009 - "The Rise of Telegraph Canyon"

#6 Album of The Year - Radio Free Silver Lake 

"Old Dark Hymns" and "Shake Your Fist" local songs of the decade - Fort Worth Weekly

Top music enjoyed in 2009 next to Thom Yorke, Avett Brothers, Atlas Sound. - D Magazine's Zac Crain 
"It would be a tragedy to misjudge their brilliance based upon anything you think you know for in that moment lies the balance between what is and is not dead. Check them out the next time they come to smash your village." - Branton Ellerbee / Zac Crain

Fort Worth Weekly Cover Story. Check it out here.

Rhett Miller recently told Sounds Country - "I really love Telegraph Canyon, from Fort Worth. Their new record is great, really big, very cool. I watched them sound check the other day and they were like “We’re getting some feedback from the tiny dog piano”, like its a completely normal instrument that everyone has. A great big orchestrated adventurous sound.” 

Music Fashion Magazine recently interviewed the band and now tweet about the band being one of their favorites. Called the new record "nothing short of a masterpiece". 

You're not in Austin tonight for ACL? That's okay -- one of the best bands in Texas isn't either. Telegraph Canyon - a sure bet for lovers of The Arcade Fire, banjo, and stages chock full of musicians with deftly bridled soul. - NBC Dallas/Ft. Worth

The Tide and The Current's best qualities... its artful ambiguousness. The average listener might have to spin the record a couple of times to really absorb the subtleties that add up to the heart-wrenching, life-affirming, mind-melting whole. The current will overtake you, rest assured, but at its own pace. The album's arrival is a momentous occasion, not only for the band but for Fort Worth. National trendsetters have been sniffing around here lately. If something's happening here, you can bet, Telegraph Canyon will be leading the charge.- FW Weekly

Telegraph Canyon...an epic take on Americana that sits as comfortably with Broken Social Scene as it does with Old 97’s, both of whom it’s opened for. - A.V. Austin (The Onion)

The Tide and The Current stands as one of the decade's without-a-doubt best - Dallas Observer 

The space and warmth of early My Morning Jacket. This’ll be the sleeper set this weekend, the one we’ll be talking about Monday morning. - San Diego Reader

Telegraph Canyon's new album is a triumph of musical alchemy. - QUICK / Dallas Morning News

The line at Lola's Saloon-Sixth was about 30 people deep and moving slowly...By the time Telegraph took the stage, the room was positively electric. I've never seen an audience so enthralled with a band, and I've never seen a band so enthralled with playing. At one point, Telegraph frontman Chris Johnson and violinist Tamara Cauble unplugged and stepped down into the middle of the crowd to play. The audience hushed. And when they took the stage again, the crowd remained silent, raptly basking in the warmth of every note. I've never seen a band lead a crowd like that, and it was amazing. I guess you had to be there. I'm really glad I was. - FW Weekly

Ethereal in the way of Fleet Foxes and Band of Horses, The Current steeps its beauty in poignancy and heartbreak. "A Light In The Field" is a soaring piece of space rock with its blistering guitars and Doves-ish vocals.- Radio Free Silver Lake

Spaced out Americana RIYL My Morning Jacket, Centro-matic and Wilco. “Into the Woods” sounds like an introduction–to a record, to a band, to a sound. - One-Track-Mind.com

The band creates an amazing authentic sound wave that makes your eardrum beats like it probably never did before. If you like bands like Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, The Low Anthem or My Morning Jacket, than Telegraph Canyon is major league for you. No question ask this band rocks! - Real Roots Café / Netherlands

This collective has the musical chops to quickly joining the ranks of indie favorites like Deer Tick and Or, The Whale as well as larger stadium-filling acts like Son Volt, Wilco, Conor Oberst (and his Mystic Valley Band), and My Morning Jacket. On The Tide and The Current, the band has presented the world with a record overflowing with anthemic, passionate alt-country, complete with thick layers of rock and folk that bolster the songs against the naysayers. - Dryvetymeonlyne.com

A release that justifies everything else. The honesty of Neil Young...the open-heartedness of a voice like Joe Cocker. One genius stroke of emotionally powerful and viscerally-jarring music. The Tide and the Current is a worthy listen; don’t let this be one of the releases you miss out on. - Adequacy.net

The Texan six-piece act doesn't allow its big lineup to clutter its sound (also known as Aracde Fire syndrome), and slips into an easy take on folk. If you're going to tune into this band, it'll be because of its own merits, not because you're riding on a Jim James/M. Ward buzz from this summer. - Aversion

The Tide And The Current is an incredibly pleasant experience and highly recommended for fans of the dark folk genres. I’d advise listening on a rainy night with your favorite set of headphones as the experience is incredibly personal. - Rocksellout.com

An impressive debut for the band in a room such as this--something culled as much from the jaw-dropping performance as from the crowd's enthusiastic applause at the end of each song. Once the band's time on stage came to an end, the crowd rose from its chairs to offer the band a standing applause. Well after the 97's played, crowds were still approaching the band's merch table, looking to buy CDs and posters and seeking the band's autographs." - Dallas Observer (Old 97’s show review)

Telegraph Canyon gave the headliners a run for their money, fashioning an explosive set out of material from the just-released The Tide and the Current. Frontman Chris Johnson, alternating between banjo and acoustic guitar, led the seven-piece, Fort Worth-based combo through songs stormy and stunning. Telegraph Canyon, likewise making its Bass Hall debut, displayed a confidence and bombast marking them as stars on the rise. - Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Old 97’s show review)

Masterful. A thrilling, tightly focused tour de force that spans a range of genres. - Fort Worth Star-Telegram

TheTide and the Current captures a band evolving from first track to last, stepping up and grabbing hold of what is rightfully theirs. In Telegraph Canyon’s case, that might just be the mantle of the region’s most promising act — in any genre. It’s the perfect contradiction: A band very much engrained in the local scene that, through the sheer force of its art and depth of skill, also stands apart from it. - Fort Worth Star-Telegram

A soul-bearing, deliberately paced, at-once epic and restrained force, beautifully arranged both in its instrumentation and in its vocal harmonies. A surefire contender for best area release of 2009, the disc more than solidifies the band's rightful place among the region's best- Dallas Observer

Fort Worth is all about Telegraph Canyon tonight. And if you dig Arcade Fire, the banjo, or musicians who collaborate spontaneously with homeless dudes, you should be too. - NBC Dallas/Ft. Worth

Telegraph Canyon expertly blends the rustic, organic tones of harmonica, viola, organ and acoustic guitar with the technological muscle and intricately processed electronics - West Coast Performer

They navigate the pre-apocalyptic universe by the light of bright acoustic riffs and to the march of thunderous beats, everything guided by the spirit of frontman Chris Johnson's ominous, the end-is-near lyrics - Fort Worth Weekly

Just got the new Telegraph Canyon album and LOVE it! If you like Fleet Foxes, you already love Telegraph Canyon. - Music Fashion Magazine 

This album shines brightly with the ferver of creative ingenuity - Babysue.com

If the Arcade Fire were a little more country and a little less Quebecois, the band would sound like fellow apocalyptic ensemble Telegraph Canyon. - Seattle Weekly

A sprawling opus walking the tightrope between dark, Gothic sounding folk tunes and Americana....if by reading the terms “folk” and “Americana” you are expecting a Wilco or Ryan Adams record then you will be sorely disappointed. Like those two bands who took the folk/country/rock thing to a whole new level, Telegraph Canyon equally turns the sound on it’s ear by creating a sound that is distinctive and completely original. - Best of Texas Blog

I think the most accurate description of this band would defy any specific genre. It falls into a category of music that I call "Gina Music". Named after one of my best friends, this category of music that Telegraph Canyon surely belongs to is populated by the likes of The Shins, The Weakerthans, The New Pornographers, and Of Montreal. I expect that when I share this CD with her, it will join heavy rotation quite quickly. Telegraph Canyon's album is the best "Gina Music" album, I've heard in ages. - Decapolis

I was blown away. Telegraph Canyon takes My Morning Jacket’s alt-country-folk-roots-rock theme and combines it with the wall-of-sound style of Arcade Fire. Mellower than Uncle Tupelo or the Old 97s, but in a different way; heavier than My Morning Jacket or Deer Tick.  - Musical Randomness

The genre blending gives this album a very full, lush sound while retaining a certain home-style feel to the music.  There is a somber feel throughout the album and a nice mellowness though the music isn’t necessarily slow paced.  An excellent sophomore album - WRUV (Burlington, VT)