There's nothing wrong with being inspired by something else. After all, there aren't many original ideas left. It's how you present those ideas that is the key to exciting art. Across both '
Sun Structures' and '
Volcano',
Temples' interpretation of 60s psychedelia has been a studious one; hitting all the right notes to evoke an era of flared pants and massive hair.
Now on their third record, '
Hot Motion', it seems that the Kettering three-piece are still going through the same motions. It's frustrating more than anything because Temples clearly love what they do. This isn't manufactured obsession, jumping onto a 60s revivalism. This is a genuine passion for that era, and it shines through in everything they do. From the ominous march of '
The Howl' to the Marc Bolan glam of '
The Beam', there's unrivalled attention to detail here.
But in this studious rendering of their idols, it leaves little room for a modern play on it to shine through. As such 'Hot Motion', like Temples' previous records, feels more like a history lesson than anything original. If you were to listen to this record without any prior knowledge as to what you were listening to, your brain would instantly think towards T. Rex and Mud - not a band in 2019.
