Temples are not here to tell you what you can and cannot dance to. However, any danceable components of the Kettering group’s formative, trusty brand of psychedelia are – as good as – denied, as a full report of dance music is overseen on Bliss.
James Bagshaw and friends have gone electronic, inspired by rave culture much like Pulp on Separations – though in Temples’ case, the entirety of the album contains said influence. They have retained their backbone, hardly tossing rock music aside like old guitar strings, instead becoming one with the sort of club-bound indie Kasabian once made.
Musically, Bliss is defined by growth, and growth doesn’t stop at dance music. Admirable are Temples’ secretive nods to the wider world, displaying an extroversion that travels behind nightclubs; the ritualistic chants interpolated on Revelations, combining with a rush of a multi-layered synth line; the Anatolian vibes that lurk within the guitars and rhythms of Vendetta.
Though maybe these nods aren’t so secretive when opening track Jet Stream Heart smacks you in the face with an exotic, almost Middle Eastern flare, encompassing wild, nasty synth riffs, covered in all kinds of amusing body paints.
But while growth is the order of the day, having fun with growth is the important part. The vaster sounds of Bliss are here to appease nobody but Temples themselves, who are making this embellished form of dance music, first and foremost, for themselves.
There is no sound as fun as the unexpected gathering of disco strings that occupy Megalith’s latter stages, the core of which is a little more soundtrack-y than it is otherworldly; video game, television show, take your pick. There is no hell raised quite like Jaguar’s drumming – it should’ve been called octopus; four limbs aren’t enough to keep up.
No matter the ambition, Temples are having heaps of fun – actual heaps! Their synths are as sticky as the nightclub floor, their ensuing atmospheres are dizzying, and their integrity is retained in a new climate in which euphoria exceeds all else.
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