On 2013's
Good Mood Fool, singer/songwriter
Luke Temple veered from the eccentric indie folk of his three prior solo LPs, opting for sort of indie-electronic soul. While the experiment was generally well received, he returns to a folk-styled approach on his follow-up,
A Hand Through the Cellar Door. It showcases
Temple as storyteller to a greater degree than his previous records, and almost in contrast to the more allusive work of his band
Here We Go Magic. The most obvious example of this is the showstopping third track "Maryanne Was Quiet." Over the course of six-and-a-quarter minutes,
Temple paints the portrait of an Irish immigrant who was adopted at age five by his (or the narrator's) grandparents. Though "Even very young she was good and quiet/Her teeth grew in brown from a poor person's diet," the withdrawn adult later comes to life -- whether ironically, symbolically, or inexplicably -- after a disfiguring suicide attempt. The song's simple verses of acoustic guitar and monotone vocals, which gradually pick up additional instruments as the song progresses, are nonetheless engrossing and lead to melodic choruses of "Maryanne was quiet."
Temple's beloved falsetto is absent from that track but appears on tunes like "Estimated World," a driving piece of acoustic psychedelia, and the floatier "Ordinary Feeling." Other memorable tales from the set -- and these characters do stick -- include "The Birds of Late December," also told in the first person ("And on that day we summoned Aphrodite/And on that day I had my first heartbreak"), and "The Case of Louis Warren," a sketch of another flawed acquaintance whose life was shaped by trauma.
Temple has a way of sounding traditional, of contemporary indie music, and from something ancient or interplanetary here, all at once. The effect comes, in part, from an often haunting delivery, but also via an immediate production style that features acoustic percussion and fingerpicked guitar, mixed with complex rhythms and faint, spacy electronics. These arrangements fall alongside compelling, unsentimental narratives and
Temple's slightly off-kilter composing style, which proves a fitting match for the subject matter. While some of those who got on board Team Temple with
Good Mood Fool may be put off by the more rustic turn, many longtime fans will find
A Hand Through the Cellar Door to be his most mesmerizing yet.