Luke Temple 'Here We Go Magic' album

To date, Luke Temple has been unconfined by genre. His full-length debut Hold a Match for a Gasoline World presented heartfelt folk tunes and expansive pop numbers filtered through a unique outsider perspective. Last year’s follow-up Snowbeast was an avant statement full of interwoven light and dark imagery recorded entirely in his Brooklyn bedroom.

Developed over a two-month period of stream-of-consciousness recording in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Luke’s self-titled debut under his new moniker Here We Go Magic is a remarkable departure from his signature singer-songwriter material. Luke recorded the album at home using analog synths, a cassette 4-track, and his trusty SM-57 mic, coloring the sound with warmth and creating textures you want to wrap yourself in.

The album opens with the trance-inducing polyrhythms and gorgeous multi-layered vocals of "Only Pieces. " What follows is an album oozing with sounds maternal and subconscious...like floating in amniotic fluid, ripe, hiccup-y and desperate to emerge. Many of the songs pulse with infectious afro-beat and kraut-rock influenced grooves, calling to mind classic albums like Remain in Light and Graceland. In contrast, the instrumental tracks conjure mystical introspective landscapes reminiscent of Popol Vuh's unforgettable ambience.

Despite the album's murky aquatic underpinnings it's hard to resist shakin what you got to ebullient blissed-out tracks like "Fangala" and "Tunnelvision." The album closes with "Everything's Big", a bleak commentary on weakness and fear birthed of opulence and gluttony. Luke's fragile tenor delivers this absurd carnival waltz with the fervor and abandon of a teetotaler under the influence, never breaking the spell of the album's mood of rejuvenation and release.

Luke is joined by fellow Brooklynites Baptiste Ibar (bass) and Peter Hale (drums) for Here We Go Magic’s psychoactive live incarnation.

Luke Temple press quotes
“...His high-pitched voice recalls a young Graham Nash by way of Elliott Smith......has enough understated soul to give Conor Oberst a run for his money." – Rolling Stone

“Luke Temple has one of the most beautiful voices in pop music.” – Sufjan Stevens

“Recalls Jeff Buckley's drama, M. Ward's atmospherics, and Feist's sense of play.” – The Onion

“His voice alone is so damn good -- one of the prettiest voices in all of indie rock, hands down.“ – Ben Gibbard, Death Cab For Cutie.

“a variety of romanticized and alienated imagery that's snatched straight from a time when squares were there to be looked at and made strange... Temple's various gifts amplify each other.” – Pitchfork Media

“Mr. Temple isn't part of any particular school — not even that all-purpose new songwriters' catchall, freak-folk — and his private world is fascinating.” – Jon Pareles, New York Times

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Luke Temple - Here We Go Magic