Track Listing

1. Only Pieces
2. Fangela
3. Ahab
4. Tunnelvision
5. Ghost List
6. I Just Want to See You Underwater
7. Babyohbabyijustcantstanditanymore
8. Nat's Alien
9. Everything's Big

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #38750 in Music
• Released on: 2009-02-24
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .19 pounds

Album Description
"The tunes are deceptively simple, with Simon & Garfunkel-style melodies, and Temple's sleepy vocals belie a melancholy just beneath the surface ... enough understated soul to give Conor Oberst a run for his money." -- Rolling Stone

Developed over a two-month period, Luke Temple's self-titled debut under his new moniker is a remarkable departure from his signature singer-songwriter material. Many of the songs pulse with infectious Afro-beat and Krautrock-influenced grooves, calling to mind classic albums like Remain in the Light and Graceland. In contrast, the instrumental tracks conjure mystical landscapes reminiscent of Popol Vuh's ambience.

Customer Reviews

swimming with the fishes
The TUNNELVISION track is gorgeous and hypnotic, the kind of song you want to listen to over and over. It alone makes this album worth it. FANGELA is close behind; some people like it best from what I've seen online. I like AHAB a lot, and ONLY PIECES as well as UNDERWATER. The so-called noise section didn't do it for me at first, but it's grown on me some. It has a soothing quality as background sound. BIG is kind of goofy but charming and poignant at the same time. It's an unusual mixture of down lyrics and up melody. I saw the group live at the Berklee Performance Center in Boston and they knocked everyone out. Most of the people were there to see Grizzly Bear and they were saying, "Wow, who are these guys?"

Great songs, bad MP3s
I really liked these songs Only Pieces, Ahab and Tunnelvision. The problem for me is that the sound on the MP3's I bought are pretty bad. Distorted like the levels were set too high. I DJ and I keep wanting to use these tracks but they sound awful in a large room. I have plenty of great sounding MP3's from Amazon so I know it's not the compression. Wondering if anyone knows if the CD is any better. There seems to be a strange trend towards bad sound these days on purpose. If that is the case then I don't get it.

Magic....indeed
There are many reviews of this ablum on the Internet, so I won't critique it here. I'll just say that I really enjoy listening to this album in its entirity and am really glad I have all the songs. I think it's also important to note that you will not get much of an idea about any of the songs from the samples. They are so short that they really do the album songs a disservice.

While I have my favorite tracks, listening to the entire album one song after the other brings its own special enjoyment. It's a great collection of work, and I'm looking forward to the next HWGM offering.