Temple Hedz - Closer.

[Louis P. Burns aka Lugh]

I've been playing this a helluva lot since Edensounds (one of our members, who worked as editor and one of the photographers on the video for it) linked me up to it over on his YouTube channel at the weekend. I'm inclined to agree with him that this song and its video are both winners:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Unnc3yHykGs

Closer is really growing on me and I love that lyrical hook; "Wake up the senses" too. Anything that stirs us to feel life more is always fine by me. Major kudos to everyone involved on the production. It rocks. If Closer is a marker to what the album is like, then it's definitely on my 'must haves' list.

I'm hopeful some of my friends who work in broadcasting and journalism are reading this thread and playing the video too. They could and should be pushing this one, not just because they like it, but because talented musicianship and songwriting like this is what will ultimately be the death of Simon Cowell's pointless career...

Temple Hedz - Closer (due for release; April, 2010) ..!

[Edensounds]

Cheers for the heads up, Lugh. I've been working with Paul (the band leader) for a number of years since meeting as DJ's in a London club, and Templehedz has performed at a number of Europeans festivals, as well as Edensounds events a couple of times subsequently. His earlier stuff was much more electronic than this, and I remember the look on his face when he told me he was going to re-invent their sound, because he felt there was more integrity in 'organic' musicianship. I think being prepared to leave a successfully broken market behind to follow powerful instincts like that is a very brave thing to do, and this really has been the first significant emergence of that sound since he locked himself in his room a couple of years back, emerging only under the cover of darkness to feast on the blood of virgins... As he comes from Brighton, I'll bet he's been starving!!!

[Louis P. Burns aka Lugh]

Cheers for the heads up, Lugh.

Hi Graham ... The pleasure is all mine my friend...

I've been working with Paul (the band leader) for a number of years since meeting as DJ's in a London club, and Templehedz has performed at a number of Europeans festivals, as well as Edensounds events a couple of times subsequently. His earlier stuff was much more electronic than this, and I remember the look on his face when he told me he was going to re-invent their sound, because he felt there was more integrity in 'organic' musicianship.

I'm convinced through my own experiences and shared encounters with other engineers and musicians, that a level of dissatisfaction with digitally generated sounds in music sets in. Somewhere in the switch between analogue sound recording and digital sampling/sequencing the natural ambience of instrumentation gets trimmed. A sort of 'drop-off' occurs which many use effects units to mask further into the production of the masters. I remember my old recording studio guru; Tony Chapman at Enigma studios in the East End of London had more than a few frustrations with it all back in the day (late 80's) when digital became the mainstream accepted mode for recording houses. He paid a small fortune to convert his studio and performance rooms to accommodate the changes and was never happy about it. Not only that but the whole 'craic' of having musicians set up and play their music and songs in a 'near live' setting got lost in the process too.

Mind you, by the time I was in the studio doing the CD for Foyle Hospice (Derry 2001), digital studios had advanced a lot because of the amounts of different effects units that had been invented in that short period of time. Even then though, Ian (the engineer and lecturer who mixed the levels for the songs on the CD) said that he too was frequently annoyed that so much was done by simply hitting the right combination of buttons and faders. So, Paul's references to organic musicianship are not unfounded at all and I fully appreciate where he must have got to prior to making his decision.

I think being prepared to leave a successfully broken market behind to follow powerful instincts like that is a very brave thing to do, and this really has been the first significant emergence of that sound since he locked himself in his room a couple of years back, emerging only under the cover of darkness to feast on the blood of virgins... As he comes from Brighton, I'll bet he's been starving!!!

And a powerful sound it is too Graham. What I particularly like about Closer is that it encapsulates all that was good about the last days of analogue recording and the intensity and vibrancy of the best of what came in its wake. From the first time you recommended this track to me at the weekend, I haven't stopped playing it and recommending it to others. This song could very well be the catalyst for a much needed renaissance of organic and thought out, structured and proper song writing. Temple Hedz - Closer is a spectacular piece of work.

I love it ...

[Edensounds]

Yeah, I totally get the joy of hearing organic musicians play... Our beloved Cornelius is one of my fave writers/ singers, just because it's such an honest and down- to- earth feeling. The small World festivals to me- as someone who works almost exclusively with electronic and instrumental forms- represent a real 'holiday' from it all, at every level. But for me there's something deep rooted I connect with in Electronic (and especially the ambient/ chilled soundscapes) that really appeals... It's hard to define but... It's almost like none of these pieces are ever quite finished, if you catch my drift? When I'm listening there's always something 'extra' to be added. That may be visuals or, at some gigs, somebody freestyling vocals or poetry over the top. The electronic forms I prefer always have an unspoken element of democracy about them... Like they're urging you to come in and somehow add an extra level of definition.... Not because they actually lack definition, but just because they're open to that kind of interpretation. In addition to this, good songs demand your attention- they're pretty uncompromising like that. Extracting the words allows for the ability to concentrate on other aspects of the immediate environment or stuff you have to do. Damn my adhd!

[Louis P. Burns aka Lugh]

Cornelius is an absolute angel of a man. I have a lot of time for him and for his work. Although, for a while there over on Facebook we lost contact with each other. Not through anything he did, but through certain head cases that knew us both lol.

I'm old skool when it comes to live music. It has to be loud, uncontrolled and full of feedback screams and squeals, with reverb unit springs thwanging and crashing for me to truly enjoy it all. But, I also love good clean Folk music played well and over the years I have developed a love of Irish Traditional music by bands like The Dubliners, The Pogues etc...

My colleague and friend Diarmuid was down here today. We both watched Closer again. Diarmuid wants to know if you guys hired models and extras for the video shoot and were the shots of buildings open source images, or did you go out on location and shoot them all yourselves? He's impressed by the video, as am I (as you already know) ...

It's quite refreshing that you are more motivated by the Electronic music scene Graham. Perhaps we'll all get to work on something collaborative at some point. That would be ace...

Re; ADHD - Who isn't these days mucker ..?

[Louis P. Burns aka Lugh]

I thought this was great: http://templehedz.co.uk/reviews.htm when I discovered it earlier tonight. Thanks Temple hedz and I hope your music careers go from strength to strength and you get all the popularity you deserve.

Well played