By JAMIE GRISWOLD
MyNorthwest.com

Part of Michael Benjamin Lerner’s plan to follow the success of his Telekinesis! debut was to get out of town.

“For this new record I had this idea of going away and writing,” says Lerner. “It was the greatest thing I could’ve ever done.”

Lerner told TBTL’s Luke Burbank that he left Seattle for Germany, where he wrote 9 to 5 for four weeks. As a solo songwriter Lerner said writing for his sophomore album proved daunting after his first release.

“I really told myself that it was not going to be a big deal, like I wasn’t going to be freaked out by it, but I totally was,” says Lerner. “There’s a song on that first record called “Coast of Carolina,” which is song that most people are familiar with, and that’s like the single or the hit off that record, so I was like, ‘Man I’ve got to write another one of those.'”

>>Listen to Michael Benjamin Lerner on TBTL

Lerner says trying to force a hit doesn’t generally work for him.

“For me if I go in and try to write a super catchy song, nothing happens,” says Lerner. “You go into your practice space, or wherever you’re going, and then you’re trying endlessly to write this catchy – ‘Oh this is going to be the catchiest thing in the world’ – and then for like five hours you’re stuck there. It makes you crazy.”

Looking toward his future projects, Lerner says he wants more collaborators.

“I’m kind of done writing records by myself. I don’t want to do that anymore. It’s not a lonely process, but it’s just not – when I think of being in a band I think of being in a band, like three people together, or four people together making a record, going and touring that record, and all fighting toward one common goal.”

Lerner, who’s heading out on tour in October, will be joined by Cody Votolado on guitar and Jason Narducy on bass. “I have this new band that’s ridiculous. We’re just a three piece now which is fun.”

Lerner says the band is already playing five songs off the new release, which he says is complete, but likely won’t be released until early 2011. The next opportunity to see Telekinesis in Seattle will be at their Showbox show Oct. 14.

Sneak-peak EXCLUSIVE: Telekinesis new song “Non-Toxic”

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