Kettering rockers, Temples, have released a new track, ‘Strange Or Be Forgotten’, from their upcoming album, ‘Volcano’, as first reported by Noisey.
The track was produced by the band themselves at their home studio in Kettering, and indeed this roots-driven production process seems key to the band’s inspiration and intention for the song. Bassist Tom Warmsley told Noisey, ‘We’re continually inundated with pressure in modern life to have to make something of ourselves and leave behind a legacy in this world. ‘Strange Or Be Forgotten’ is our way of questioning the necessity of having to be all so individual and unique—when really it’s our true selves that should be celebrated.’ Sonically the track is upbeat, driven and yet dreamy; you can check out the track below. Or don’t, be yourself…
The track is the second from the album to be previewed, as ‘Certainty’, a remix of a track by Scottish post-punk revivalists Franz Ferdinand has also been released as the first single from the album. Frontman James Bagshaw said of the ‘Certainty’ he wanted it to have ‘an eerie, early Disney vibe.’ It seems Bagshaw wasn’t the only one with a slightly weird vision for the track; video director Alden Volney spoke to Paste Magazine about the inspiration for the video, revealing, ‘This is based on a recurring dream I have been having since childhood about getting into a sea of plastic. So when the band approached me about doing something inspired by those JPOP videos that ooze quirkiness and eccentricity, I thought injecting the color palettes and aesthetics of Japan into this idea could be a good fit. It’s designed to feel like a fever dream you’d have after spending too much time in a Japanese dollar store.’ You can watch the video below to see the results of all this:
‘Volcano’ in all its glory will be released via Fat Possum on the 3rd March. Bagshaw has said that the album will feel grander purely thanks to technical expertise the band didn’t have for their debut, Sun Structures, explaining to Paste Magazine, ‘If there’s a sense of scale, it was really just a result of implementing a load of things that we didn’t know about the first time around. We didn’t even have a subwoofer to listen back to things that we did on Sun Structures, so there was nothing below 50Hz on that record. We didn’t even know those frequencies were there!’
Temples have already announced tours of the US, UK and Europe as well as other festival dates, including an appearance at Austin’s famous South By South West Festival and Madrid’s Tomavistas Festival. The UK and European legs out the tour will follow the album’s release so you’ll be able to catch the new tracks in all their up-close glory. The full schedule is shown below:
22/1 – The Trades Club, Heavenly Weekend – Hebden Bridge
25/1 – Beursschouwburg – Brussels
27/1 – EKKO – Utrecht
22/2 – The Chapel – San Francisco
24/2 – Crystal Ballroom – Portland
25/2 – Neumo’s – Seattle
26/2 – Rickshaw Theatre – Vancouver
28/2 – Don Quixote’s – Felton
1/3 – Miners Foundry Cultural Center – Nevada City
2/3 – Glass House – Pomona
3/3 – Pioneertown – Pappy and Harriet’s
4/3 – The Regent – LA
5/3 – Belly Up Tavern – Solana Beach
9/3 – Black Box – Tijuana
10/3 – Neon Reverb Music Festival, Plaza Hotel & Casino – Las Vegas
11/3 – Downtown Phoenix [VIVA PHX] – Phoenix
12/3 – Meow Wolf – Santa Fe
14-16/3 – SXSW – Austin
17/3 – Trees – Dallas
18/3 – Warehouse Live – Houston
19/3 – Burger Records Hangover Fest – Paper Tiger
26/3 – Riverside – Newcastle
27/3 – Leadmill – Sheffield
28/3 – Academy 2 – Manchester
30/3 – Electric Brixton – London
31/3 – Concorde 2 – Brighton
1/4 – 2Q Festival – Derby
2/4 – Institute 2 – Birmingham
7/4 – Gebaude 9 – Cologne
8/4 – Strom – Munich
9/4 – Palac Akropolis – Prague
10/4 – Festaal Kreuzberg – Berlin
11/4 – Knust – Hamburg
12/4 – Pumpehuset – Copenhagen
18/4 – Botanique – Brussels
19/4 – Le Grand Mix – Tourcoing
20/4 – Le Docks – Lausanne
21/4 – Plaza – Zurich
22/4 – L’Epicerie Moderne – Lyon
24/4 – Elysee Montmarte – Paris
27/4 – Trinity Centre – Bristol
19-21/5 – Tomavistas Festival – Madrid