Single Review :: Temple Songs - I Can't Look After You

Temple Songs

I Can’t Look After You

October 14 2013 (RIP Records)

6.5/10


Words: Andrew Major


Joining the queue of ‘hyped up bands of 2013’, Temple Songs release their brand new single ‘I Can’t Look After You’, as they look to build upon an already impressive start to their career. With support slots for METZ and Palma Violets in 2012, and penned in to accompany Splashh on their upcoming tour, it seems as if things can only get better for this Manchester-based quartet.

The psych-pop genre has been ever-expanding since the likes of Tame Impala and TOY brought their music to the masses in 2012; here’s hoping that Temple Songs can match up to the ever increasing gaggle of 90s throwbacks.

Most of the boxes in the ‘conventions of psychedelic music’ handbook have been ticked in ‘I Can’t Look After You’: twelve-string guitar with a shed load of chorus, vocals battered in reverb, and idolising The Brian Jonestown Massacre to the point of ridiculousness are the main three. The youthful likeability and overall blasé of the track are its stand-out features, more so than the musical theory itself. ‘I Can’t Look After You’ simply sounds like four guys making music they like, and if anyone else does too m, then that’s a bonus.

Temple Songs may have just pushed the boundaries of originality and acceptability when it comes to early 90s influenced psych-pop, but there’s something about them that makes it all okay. They don’t really seem to be ‘trying’ to produce their sludgy, slacker sound and style, rather they simply picked up some instruments and that’s the first thing that came out. Just the way it should be.
Temple Songs are clearly a band with a lot to give and no doubt they have a place on the psych-pop scene. However, they’re still in need of a stand-out single to grab the attention of a wider audience in order to progress.