Temples - Sun Structures

Looking like a West Coast psych band, Temples arrived with all the hallmarks of cosmic travellers. There's the band name, for starters, there are track titles that sound like JG Ballard novels (Prisms, The Golden Throne, Sun Structures) and there's the fact that they take incense sticks on the road with them. But if all of the above suggests Temples are backwards-lookin, think again. The Kettering four-piece's debut is a mix of scuzzy glam stomp, dreamy, 12-string-drenched folk-rock, droning psych and more – all given a 2013 spin.

It's a record that set out the band's stall as Britain's premier retro-futurists, with influences ranging from '60s psychedelia to Motown, glam, Krautrock and baggy, all viewed through a very modern kaleidoscope – and always keeping the song at the heart of it all. ""We still want songs to be songs.” The key, says James, is innovation. "We never want to re-do the same thing, use the same formula as a previous song. We're always looking hard to better ourselves."

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