For the second album, Temples have taken their neo-psychedelic tendencies up a level and found their authentic voice, whilst simultaneously channelling all of the elements which made them so great in the first place. The same can also be said for the live show. Occupying a unique audience demographical space, the sold out gig reflected this as old and young enjoyed the masterful and spellbinding performance in unison.

A sonic expansion has taken place for Volcano, with a notable emphasis placed on cleaner, more substantial production. And the good news is that they’ve managed to transfer this studio evolution onto the stage, with the compositions sounding even better when played live. Temples give off the feeling that every single aspect of the performance has been carefully thought over in order to create a mesmerising spectacle. Each subtle nuance- the lights, the set list order, the sound levels, the timings- feel like they’ve been thoroughly deliberated in order to give the crowd an immersive 90-minute experience.

The militaristic ‘All join in’ burst the night into life from the offset before old favourite ‘Colours to life’ did exactly that to the room as the multi-coloured backdrop of diamonds converted the stage into a vibrant cacophony of fluorescent visuals. The marvellous space-glam stomper ‘Roman Godlike Man’ soon followed, preparing the crowd for one of the night’s highlights in ‘Sun Structures’. Elongating the the first album track for an extra five minutes compared to on record, it’s a shame the Kettering band don’t make this more of a regular thing. Samuel Toms’ tight drum work and Thomas Walmsley’s evolving bass line seamlessly harmonised, allowing James Bagshaw to lay out the foundations and transport the song into an epic motorik jam of pulsating soundscapes.

Keyboardist Adam Smith then commenced ‘Certainty’ in the form of its initial deep synthetic framework, allowing the other three to prepare before the track surged into life with the unmistakable riff in one of this year’s great pop songs. It positions itself in your mind straight away before allowing the layers of trippy synthetic and analogue layers to take hold. Bagshaw then proved he wasn’t just Marc Bolan in appearance as the glam stomper that is ‘Keep in the dark’ transported the audience back to the 1970s.

A slight alteration in mood followed with ‘Move with the seasons’ and ‘Mystery of pop’, before the frontman put down his guitar and paraded the stage under the backdrop of a deep reverberating soundscape and a potent bass drum for ‘How would you like to go?’. The fast-paced ‘Open air’ erupted the room back into life before ‘Mesmerise’ did exactly that to the onlookers, with the band shipping off into another krautrock jam, adding an extra seven minutes to the song in the process. It would have been an appropriate finale to the main set but that responsibility fell to to the wonderful prog-pop number ‘Strange or be forgotten ‘.

The lights dimmed and a sonic blast of recorded claps then burst out of the speakers for a good five minutes at the start of the encore, which could only mean it was time for ‘A question isn’t answered’. Taken from Sun Structures, this song is even more epic in its live incarnation, especially the extravagant riff in which Bagshaw looks very much the effortless modern rock star as he lifted his axe into the air to the obeying masses. ‘Shelter song’ then capped the night off in sing-along fashion as the inebriated Friday night crowd yelled for a second encore.

Temples are a band with many strings to their bow and demand your full attention in order to appreciate the substantial production they put into each of their arrangements. With two albums in the bag, they now possess greater depth, more complex structures and a richer, distinctive sound. Based on this showing they are also turning into one of the country’s most cherished bands.
Paul Hill

Website: templestheband.com
Facebook: facebook.com/templesofficial
Twitter: twitter.com/templesofficial