If you go
› What: Morning Teleportation› Where: JJ’s Bohemia, 231 E. M.L. King Blvd.› When: 9 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 19› Admission: $5› For more information: 423-266-1400
Members of Morning Teleportation met in Bowling Green, Ky., 12 years ago, and they've since lived in Portland, Ore., back in Kentucky, then in Austin, Texas, back to Kentucky and now in Nashville.
Their music, too, is all over the place, although some have tried to pigeon-hole it as electro/psychedelic.
"It's never really one style," says Travis Goodwin, who founded the band with Tiger Merritt. "We play whatever comes out. I can't put a finger on it."
Morning Teleportation is touring in support of its new album, "Salivating for Symbiosis," which came out in late March. Tuesday night, Sept. 19, the tour stops in Chattanooga for a show at JJ's Bohemia.
On the new album, Merritt wrote lyrics and chords, Goodwin the arrangements. Goodwin says their goal for this album was to be more intentional in what they recorded, take their time.
"We recorded the first ("Expanding Anyway") in 12 days," he says. "This one, we really created in the studio. Our bass player and drummer were there 12 or 13 days, but Tiger and I stayed a long time after that. I spent almost two and a half months in the studio doing keys and Tiger stayed eight months."
There's a lot of improvisation in each of the band's shows, but Goodwin says it's not a style they rely on.
"Our music is set to parts we've written, but sometimes we will jam out. It just goes off the flow, the vibe of the room," he explains.
There were six years between the band's first and second albums - but those were spent playing festivals (Bonnaroo in 2010), and in support of The Flaming Lips, Cage the Elephant and Modest Mouse.
"I feel like this is actually our third record because we took six years to make it," says Goodwin. "We tried to skip the sophomore slump."
A Morning Teleportation show has been described as "a house party, a futuristic hootenanny and back-room jam session rolled into one."
Goodwin just says, "It's a big old time. We'll keep playing (at JJ's) as long as they let us."
Contact Susan Pierce at spierce@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6284.