Wednesday 11 February 2015

Temple Hedz 'Coming Home E.P.' Review



Artist: Temple Hedz


Release: Coming Home E.P.


Label: New Division Ltd


Released: 23rd February






Temple Hedz is the brain-child of Paul Savery inspired by the likes of Banco De Gaia where live shows in the past have often been propelled into eager crowds alongside a full backing band. After several years in the wilderness Paul is staging a come back with a new album in the pipeline, as well as stepping back on the festival circuit in 2015. If you're a regular listener of our 'Chill Out Sessions' radio show on boxfrequency.fm you may well remember the excellent mish-mash of global electronica and live instrumentation of Paul's guest mix which featured more than a fair few of his own tracks.

This E.P. starts in the clichéd manner with the title track 'Coming Home'. From the word go the Banco influence is obvious with audio samples, tribal chants and vocodered indie like vocal stabs fused over multiple electronic layers providing an overall uplifting feel with psychedelic twitches and dubby basslines.

Following this is a cover of the Cure's 'A Forest' now although I'm a fan of a fair amount of their output in the 80's it wouldn't be my choice as there's already been the 'Tree Mix' on 'Mixed Up' and Mark Plati's drum n bass version on 'Join The Dots'. I've previously mentioned this to Paul and he said it's was always going to be this, as it's a song close to his heart because he used to play it regularly with a band in his youth. Having said that I don't dislike the original and as covers go it's a deeply layered sonic instrumental, that's also an interesting dance alternative which easily holds it's head alongside the others previously mentioned.

Next up is the Doppler Theory mix of 'Tashi' and this guitar laden fusion of Indian vocals and psychedelic electronica is my pick of the bunch. The vocals grabbed me instantaneously whilst the track drifts from indie fused electronica into psychedelica and back with relative ease.

The final track dimensions is a more laid back affair beginning with a stereo-typical but none-the-less apt spoken audio of the swami or guru which is later exchanged and enhanced with ethereal female vocals layered over the flutes and chimes of the Far East.

Overall this is a sterling little collection of mid and down tempo output from Paul which I've no doubt will appeal to festival goers this summer. So I'd recommend fans of Toby Marks dig in and have a listen as personally I look forward to the album with eager ears.

Review by Woodzee.

Links …

https://soundcloud.com/templehedz

https://templehedz1.bandcamp.com/

http://www.templehedz.co.uk/


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