by Caitlin Baldridge
It’s no doubt that Temples’ debut album Sun Structures has the potential to be a great rock album. The inspiration the group draws from the Beatles is apparent within every song of the record displayed by atmospheric riffs, vintage rock elements, and a propulsive cloud of blues. The 1960’s infused background vocals and hard-hitting guitar lines are blended together to produce a blurry pool of reverb and distortion. We can understand the group’s intention; to make a deliciously familiar rock album. Temples is possessing poppy vocals resembling Portugal. The Man, distortion inspired by The Black Keys and The White Stripes, and an all-over feel that could place most of the album on the soundtrack of Ocean’s Eleven. The speedy progress of the band is quite impressive as well; with only coming together in 2012 as a vocalist and bassist, they built up such a strong following that they landed a spot on the lineup for a Rolling Stone’s show in London a mere year later.
All this being said, the intention is great; however, the lack of concise songwriting, the undistinguishable choruses, and the group not being able to establish a sound of their own all prevent the album from being a hit.
The album floats its way through with heavy reverb and un-noticeable choruses, making for a very generic rock album. That’s not to say that there aren’t any tracks that are intriguing; the album picks up a bit in the middle with tracks like “Keep in the Dark” and “Mesmerize” – both have some catchy melodies. “Sand Dance” stands out with its Egyptian, other-worldly feel, but the promising song drags on with the second half of the seven-minute song being a repetitious instrumental.
Sun Structures isn’t the most exciting piece of modern psychedelic rock but the spirit is strong and so is the instrumentation, so I’m looking forward to seeing what else the band can bring to the rock world. You can catch Temples at Coachella in April.
Rating: 6.0/10
