This is an exceptionally fine new album from Matthew Hegarty (his last 2014 release ‘Other Rivers’ was a winner too!) It looks/sounds like there might be something a bit conceptual going on here, what with the mysterious artwork and all but metaphysical intentions aside this is really terrific album. The artwork for Temple is a painting named – “Site of Special Interest” – by the British artist, Ben Risk, who was subsequently commissioned to create new paintings that will form artwork for later singles from the album. Says Hegarty, “The image is of an old hunting lodge in the Scottish highlands, vividly splashed with red on a barren landscape and I loved how that worked with the title of the album ‘Temple’.”
There are eleven songs in the set and Mr Hegarty sings them all solidly and reliably. He has the kind of voice which very haunting the song ‘On A Midnight Street’ before considering anything else; not because it’s the only decidedly uptempo number in the collection but because it the type of song that lifted my soul.
There is a spirit of Bruce Springsteen in the work,the melody and chugga-chugg rhythm but that association aside it’s the purity and honesty of the thing which makes me love it even more.
The Fat Angel Sings 