Temples
Sun Structure

The first word—and the most frequent—that comes to mind, almost like a refrain or a mantra, is: “Finally!”.

Yesterday, Wednesday, January 15, 2014, while on my way to the stadium with friends, Virgin Radio decided to play a track from a new band from England. As often happens when I listen to the radio, I never really pay particular attention (and maybe I'm wrong) to the songs of so-called emerging groups. However, these guys are really something. The more seconds pass, the more I feel drawn to that song and those young men performing it, so much so that I turn to my friend and ask: "What's this band called?"
"The Temples" – is the laconic reply.

Alright, Temples, a simple name, I can easily remember it even tomorrow, when sleep and night have shattered quite a few thoughts and ideas from the day before. This time I could do it because I really didn't want to miss out on them. And, indeed, this morning, almost like a bolt from the blue, that song whose name I didn't know came back to me, and that band my precious friend let me listen to.

The Temples were born less than two years ago, in 2012, in England, specifically in Kettering, from the union of the two leaders James Edward Bagshaw (singer-guitarist) and Thomas Edison Warmsley (bassist), who were joined by drummer Sam Toms and keyboardist Adam Smith (not the economist). The four, after recording and uploading some of their songs on Youtube, received a call from producer Jeff Barrett of Heavenly Recordings, and thus the first singles of Temples arrived: Shelter Song in 2012, followed by Colours to Life (June 2013) and the song from Virgin Radio, Keep in the Dark (October 2013).

The debut album, “Sun Structure”, is set to be released in February of this year, but something is already circulating online, and I didn’t let it slip by. If the first singles left us hopeful, the entire album is truly one of those rare musical delights to be enjoyed from the first to the last track. With a very minimalist approach—just twelve tracks, four of which have already been released as singles—the Temples offer all their talent to the public: a psychedelic rock that roots itself in the Beatles of Sgt. Peppers and the Pink Floyd of Syd Barrett, passing through bands like Jefferson Airplane and Shocking Blue. A return to the origins of British rock music, a nation always heralding musical and sonic innovations. The Temples decide to retrace this prolific path starting from the look, characterized by thick rebellious locks and flashy, sparkling, and even a bit kitsch outfits, infusing this philosophy into their songs: dream-like and poetic lyrics, distorted guitars and fuzz galore, overlapping vocals filtered as if they were singing while dreaming, sweet keyboards indispensable to create that sound and surreal atmosphere. To shine are almost all the songs, but my personal favorites—besides the aforementioned singles—are The Golden Throne, A Question isn’t Answered, the title track and Sand Dance, up to the album's closure, left to an acoustic Fragments of Light. When listening to Sun Structure, you can only exclaim: finally!

Because, essentially, this is the first reaction you feel if you're tired of having to turn to the past to satisfy your musical needs, if you find in the Temples a little glimpse in a musical scene dominated by completely different sounds (some very questionable), if in 2014 you are finally happy to listen to a new band that you really like, without having to say: “nice, but they sound a bit like these” or “not bad, but can you compare them to the Grateful Dead?”.

So, dear rock friends, my advice is to listen to and follow this new band from Northamptonshire, with the hope that they may have a flourishing career and give us many great albums like their debut “Sun Structure”.