Temples - Myrrh Myrrh -- DC9 - Nov 27 2013

Myrrh Myrrh - On with the show. No matter that your vocalist quits on you and according to photos, also plays bass. The guitar and drums carry on with an instrumental set tonight. And as such, it made for a nice rehearsal. They have some skillful rock moves, modern, firm and occasionally playful. But as they said, we could pick up free music and listen to it online and see if the vocals matched what are imaginations came up with. Hopefully they will get that bass and vocals back some time, as there could be something to work with here.

Temples - Direct from Kettering (not the Ohio town I grew up in, but in Northamptonshire, England), comes this terrific quartet. OK, I give up, I am now a full fledged sucker for all of this excellent pop psychedelia floating about in the nethersphere. From the great Jacco Gardner show to the excellent (and a bit harder edged) Gringo Star show to this one, I am a full fledged convert. It still takes a band to come up with great songs and these guys have that down in addition to the fab sounds. They employ either two guitars and or a guitar and keyboards atop a steady and even murky rhythm section. The guitars are strong and alternate between lush melodies and edgy cutting barbs. The vocals carry the pop brilliantly, but make way for long instrumental passages that remind me a bit of a Wooden Shjips/Door hybrid. It is as if wild psyche bands like Group 1850 or International Harvester work hard on covering the Kinks or the Zombies. Rarely do bands cause me to move around in snakey undulations that I am glad I don't have on video. But these guys completely charmed me in an overwhelming way, which makes me utterly thrilled I made it out on this cold windy night. Please work this band into your listening and stay tuned for future tours, as this first visit to the US can not possibly be their last.

Quote of the Night: Fair warning from the opener's welcome... "Hi everybody--thanks for being here and not at Rob Zombie down the street. We're Myrrh Myrrh and we normally have a vocalist but she quit ten days ago."