Album Review: Luke Temple Is A Minimalist Musician In “A Hand Through The Cellar Door”
Minimalism is the idea of pairing simple arrangements to evoke vast meanings. The idea is not far-fetched as the simpler something is the deeper it can be felt. Often, it is the simplest things in life like, love and laughter that cannot be described as much as absorbed. The same notion defines Luke Temple’s minimalist record A Hand Through The Cellar Door.
From An off-twinge of a guitar strum to sporadic pacing, the point of music minimalism is that there is always a sense that something is not quite right, which is the point of Temple’s A Hand Through The Cellar Door. Even its title strikes the subtle eeriness that is not about fear as much as the “weirdness” of life. What is that hand reaching for? Should it be reaching at all? These questions exemplify both the strangeness of Temple’s title, but also the introspective, nagging curiosity that he intriguingly spreads throughout the record: Why are people the way they are, and why do they try to either stay the same or be different? These are universal questions that are, for however effortlessly framed and asked, confounded with complexity. Yet, Temple uses his lyrics like a paintbrush upon both his songs and the characters you meet within them. It is in his lyrical paintings that listeners feel a little closer to figuring out the motives behind people’s feelings and choices. Like a minimalist painting, Temple uses quiet instrumentals to make loud statements.
For some reason, no matter how great or stable life may be, a person can still feel odd or out of place in it. It is this sentiment that Temple dedicates his sound and lyrics to: spiritual imbalance. Each song from “Estimated World” to ” The Masterpiece Is Broken” are folk-blues opuses into life’s ability to make you feel like your are its most included outcast. The notion is as clashing/ contrasting as Temple’s songs, but it is a notion, like his record, that works. Through melodies that are driven by stringed instrumentals that are spontaneous, almost combustible, in style, and vocals that crackle with observance over the people he sings about/for, Temple’s A Hand Through The Cellar Door succeeds as a musical narrative. Like lyrical masters James Taylor and Bob Dylan, you can see the people, homes, and worlds Temple describes out of sheer wonder for their workings. You walk with him as he tries to understand “The Case Of Louis Warren” and whether “Maryanne Was Quiet” because of a trauma or personal choice. You can see Temple looking at “The Birds of Late December” or analyzing the uptight nature of “The Complicated Men Of The 1940’s”. By the end of the record, you will find yourself equally fascinated by the people, natures, and things that fascinate Temple.
We all have life, and, for however alienated or unfit we feel to have it, it is still ours to have and make magnificent. It is that truth the can make you feel like “the most included outcast”. Temple’s lyrics like, in “Smashing Glass” or ” Ordinary Feeling”, crawl beneath the skins we wear to hide our soul, and show that beyond our exteriors are spirits with desires and decisions they are trying to manifest. Temple provokes such a powerful message through whimsical, yet quiet instrumentals, which will be a nice change for listeners eager to hear music that will help them tune out from their and tune in to their hearts. For more information on Luke Temple and To Buy A Hand Through The Cellar Door On November 11 Click Here.
