For Folk's Sake » Grizzly Bear

Album | Luke Temple – Don’t Act Like You Don’t Care

Ian Parker — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 09:26:27 +0000

Don’t Act Like You Don’t Care is Luke Temple’s third solo album, which only goes to show I’ve still got a lot of catching up to do. I first heard about him through his band Here We Go Magic, and only heard about them through a band they supported on tour – namely the wonderful Grizzly Bear.

But Temple’s solo work pre-dates the existence of Here We Go Magic, and so too do large parts of this record, which Temple began before Here We Go Magic’s eponymous debut caught the public’s attention. It meant this record got put on a shelf for a couple of years before he had time to return to it and finish it off.

For anyone new to Temple or Here We Go Magic, Grizzly Bear seem like a great reference to bring up. Because Temple mines the same rich seam of psych-folk, and any fan of Edward Droste et al is likely to be a fan of this.

But where Grizzly Bear and, indeed, Here We Go Magic have produced highly elaborate productions on their albums to date, there is a stripped-back feel to Temple’s latest solo outing. It is especially apparent on the scratchy opener ‘In The Open’ but still somehow true of the more polished tracks like ‘More Than Muscle’. It’s an an album of contradictions – there are layers and layers of instrumentation to this album, hundreds of different sounds to explore with every listen, but the overall vibe is still of a collection put together in somebody’s bedroom.

Back before he had Here We Go Magic to distract him, Temple was referring to this as his ‘country record’. ‘How Could Muscle’ and ‘Ophelia’ have a definite southern twang to it, but this album is rammed full of too many different sounds to be so easily pigeon-holed.

Things slow down on the second half of the record, which is almost entirely acoustic until closer ‘Luck Part’. Temple lets his delicate, beautiful vocals carry the weight, but still filters them through a thick layer of hiss to maintain the low-fi feel. The beauty here is in the simplicity, although if anything things slow too much in the almost stationary ‘You Belong To Me’, and you wonder if some of the threads that should hold this collection together became frayed during the long hiatus.

It’s a frustrating notion, because when this album is good, it is seriously good. It just doesn’t quite hang together as a whole.

For Folk’s Sake’s festival calendar

Lynn Roberts — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 08:28:17 +0000

We’ve gone through the folkier end of the festival calender, and hereby bring you our picks.

You won’t find any news on Glastonbury or Reading and Leeds, mind. We’re here to tell you about the things you might not have heard about yet.

And what a selection there is this year. You can see Bob Dylan and Laura Marling share a stage at one-day festival Hop Farm in Kent. The always wonderful End of the Road is bringing the legendary and elusive Diane Cluck over from the US as well as playing host to FFS’s favourite band in the world, The Mountain Goats.

For those who like their festivals crossed with city breaks, Open House is putting on an astonishing series of gigs in Belfast including Seasick Steve and Old Crow Medicine Show. And if you’ve got your tastes firmly set to folk of all kinds, the Divine Comedy, Donovan and Johnny Flynn play Moseley Folk Festival, which mixes traditional and new folk music in Birmingham.

Latitude is well on its way to getting the full folk set with Laura Marling, Noah & the Whale and Mumford & Sons all booked to play and also features chuckles from our favourite comedian Josie Long. Lounge on the Farm is putting on our live act of the moment, Cocos Lovers.

And finally, Green Man has got Joanna Newsom. That’s all I’m saying about that.

We don’t want you to have any nasty surprises when it comes to ticket costs so we’ve added booking fees and posting and what not into the prices below. Happy camping!

21-23 May
Wood Festival
Braziers Park, Oxfordshire
Peggy Sue, Cate Le Bon, Frank Turner, Tunng, Fionn Regan
Weekend ticket £72.74 (incl fees) link

3 July
Hop Farm Festival
Hop Farm, Kent
Bob Dylan, Ray Davies, Mumford & Sons, Seasick Steve, Laura Marling, The Magic Numbers
Day ticket without camping £76.25 (incl fees) link

9-11 July
Lounge on the Farm
Merton Farm, Canterbury
Cocos Lovers, Fionn Regan, Jesca Hoop, Tunng
Weekend ticket (incl fees & postage) £103.95 link

15-18 July
Latitude
Henham Park, Suffolk
Laura Marling, Midlake, Belle & Sebastian, Richard Hawley, Noah & the Whale, Grizzly Bear, Jonsi, Mumford & Sons, Frank Turner and comedy from Josie Long
Weekend tickets £167.20 (incl fees) link

13-15 August
Summer Sundae
De Monfort Hall & Gardens, Leicester
Fionn Regan, Fanfarlo, Johnny Flynn, Laura Veirs, Lissie, Local Natives, The Low Anthem, Mumford & Sons, Tunng, The Wave Pictures
Early Bird Weekend tickets £96 (incl fees & postage) link

20-22 August
Green Man Festival
Glanusk Park, Brecon Beacons
Joanna Newsom, Flaming Lips, Field Music, Fionn Regan, First Aid Kit, Matthew & the Atlas, The Smoke Fairies, Caitlin Rose
Weekend ticket £131.45 (incl fees & postage) link

3-5 September
Moseley Folk Festival
Moseley Park, Birmingham
Donovan, The Divine Comedy, Sparrow & the Workshop, Beth Jeans Houghton, The Low Anthem, Johnny Flynn, Cut-A-Shine
Weekend tickets £83.95 (incl fees & postage) link

7-12 September
Open House Festival
Various venues, Belfast
Seasick Steve, Wilco, The Felice Brothers, Field Music, Old Crow Medicine Show, The Low Anthem, AA Bondy
Events individually ticketed, see website

10-12 September
End of the Road
Larmer Tree Gardens, Dorset
Iron & Wine, The Low Anthem, The Mountain Goats, The New Pornographers, Diane Cluck, The Antlers, Deer Tick
Weekend tickets £135 (incl postage) link

This list will be updated when announcements are made.

Is there anything we’ve missed? Let us know below.

St Vincent to tour with Grizzly Bear this Autumn

Helen True — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:56:53 +0000

Ed Droste has announced, via Twitter of all news conduits, that the forthcoming Grizzly Bears tour will be graced by the incredible, ethereal presence of St Vincent, whose latest album, Actor is utterly splendorous and one of our nominees for the Schmercury Prize.

The UK tour dates are as follows:

31st October London, England – Barbican Hall
1st November Dublin, Ireland – Vicar Street
2nd November Glasgow, Scotland – ABC
4th November Manchester, England – Cathedral
5th November Leeds, England – Leeds Metropolitan University
6th November Bristol, England – Anson Rooms

Tickets are bound to disappear like proverbial scalding cakes. Hop to it.

Words: Helen True

For Folk's Sake » Grizzly Bear

Album | Luke Temple – Don’t Act Like You Don’t Care

You might also be interested in...

For Folk’s Sake’s festival calendar

You might also be interested in...

St Vincent to tour with Grizzly Bear this Autumn

You might also be interested in...