Temples

British neo-psychedelic band Temples combine a trippily retro approach with classic pop craftsmanship, though they aren’t afraid to stretch the fuzzy boundaries of their chosen sound. The group debuted a core sound of chiming guitars, tight harmonies, and an easygoing T. Rex-inspired boogie on 2014′s Sun Structures, an album that gained the band a following that expanded beyond neo-psych circles. Nonetheless, Temples found themselves at the forefront of a miniature psychedelic revival, along with fellow travelers King Gizzard and Tame Impala. Their guiding principles stayed firmly intact, even when exploring synth-heavy territory as they do on 2017′s Volcano or giving their sound a sonic glow up courtesy of a Dave Fridmann mix on 20223′s Exotico.
Formed in Kettering, a medium-sized city outside of London, Temples initially centered around the talents of songwriting duo vocalist/guitarist James Bagshaw and vocalist/bassist Thomas Warmsley. After adding drummer Sam Toms and guitarist/keyboard player Adam Smith to the group, they released their debut single, “Shelter Song,” on Heavenly in 2012. Following a busy 2013 spent playing shows, recording an album, and releasing two singles (“Colours to Life” in June, “Keep in the Dark” in October), the band’s first long-player, the Bagshaw-produced Sun Structures, was released in early 2014. A steady stream of tour dates around the world, and an unlikely appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, kept Temples busy the rest of the year. Near the year’s end, Heavenly released Sun Restructured, a super-trippy reimagining of the Sun Structures album done by the remix team of Richard Norris and Erol Alkan, aka Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve.
Temples spent the next two years writing songs and recording in Bagshaw’s living room while also keeping up a steady slate of concert appearances. “Certainty,” the first song from their second album, was debuted in late 2015 and featured the addition of synthesizers to their retro-psych sound. Produced by Bagshaw, with Smith contributing to the songwriting, the slightly more forward-sounding Volcano was issued by Fat Possum in March 2017. Temples hit the road to play a full slate of dates, then in early 2018 found themselves looking for a drummer when Toms left the group. They added PAUW’s Rens Ottink to the live band for late-2018 shows. Along the way, the group also left Heavenly Records to sign with ATO Records. Their first record for the label, 2019′s Hot Motion, was recorded in an outbuilding near Bagshaw’s country home and had a synthesizer-free, guitar-heavy sound that was more in line with their debut. Their subsequent tour to support the album was cut short in 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic; instead the band turned to writing material for their next album. Before they got too far, their label asked them for a new song and the band dug up a song considered for Hot Motion that was ultimately rejected. They recorded the track, titled “Paraphernalia,” in their home studio and with remote help from a fellow musician who was a big fan of the group, Sean Ono Lennon. The disco-inspired song was mixed by famed indie rock producer Dave Fridmann and released as a stand-alone single in late 2020. When COVID restrictions loosened up, the band — who now counted Ottink as an official member — headed to upstate New York to work with Lennon in his studio. The resulting album, 2023′s Exotico, is their most gently experimental album yet, the usual psychedelic sound bolstered by full arrangements of chiming guitars and space-y keyboards, gentle melodies, synthesized bass lines, the occasional detour into soft rock, and Fridmann’s delicately layered mix. Soon after the album’s release in April, the band embarked on a North American tour. ~ Matt Collar & Tim Sendra