Tim Jonze 

Temples: Sun Structures – review

Temples stick too closely to the psych-rock revival template to allow their undeniable songwriting skills to take off, writes Tim Jonze
  
  

Temples
Skipping across canonical touchstones … Temples Photograph: PR

The opening seconds of Sun Structures – a descending, acid-soaked guitar riff – spell out Temples' manifesto perfectly. Along with Heavenly label mates Toy and Stealing Sheep, they're part of a guitar band psych revival. And with their fondness for backwards guitar and reverb, they're the most faithful of the bunch, skipping across canonical touchstones from T-Rex to the Byrds' Fifth Dimension. Viewed as a young band proposing the sound of 2014, however, they're a trickier sell. Such close adherence to the psych template is frustrating, because they clearly know a thing or two about songwriting: Shelter Song and The Golden Throne bloom with energy and invention. But unlike, say, the Beta Band or the Horrors, they're adding nothing new to the mix to help them claim a sound of their own. Strangely for a psychedelic band, Temples could do with expanding their minds a little.

 

Leave a Comment

Required fields are marked *

*

*