MARK TEMPLETON: BALLADS
I'm not much for EPs. Maybe you've noticed, all one bajillion of you who have sent me your debut EPs without a response. Forgive me, really. I don't know what stops me from being able to commit myself to downloading and listening to something of that length. It should be easier right? (Don't give up, send me your full lengths.) Yet, I do take exception for some. Enter Mark Templeton's Ballads. While I genuinely loved his collaboration with aA. Munson on Acre Loss, I think I forced myself to enjoy his sophomore album, Inland. It wasn't bad by any means, but not near as good as Standing On A Hummingbird either. It almost kept me from immersing myself in his latest EP. However, Ballads marks a return to his previously achieved, outstanding form. The concept for Ballads is a brief, but rich suite of tracks derived from the one-and-only Lionel Richie. The opening track, "February 23rd," is quick to find the Richie's single, "Hello," bleeding through the guitars and static. It's a plunderphonic dream that you never knew you had and now, in its earshot, can't help but slip away into again and again. The closer, "Drowning in Memories," thickens things up a bit and provides ample evidence of the man's expertise in sound collage. Looks like Mr. Templeton is back on top and Ballads definitely has me interested in what's coming next from the textured Canadian soundsmith. - Forest Gospel - July 2010
I don't know what possessed Mark Templeton to plunder Lionel Richie's songs for the four-song Ballads-a childhood obsession with "Say You, Say Me" and "Dancing On the Ceiling" perhaps, or maybe Templeton was inspired by a similar move The Field made when he used "Hello" as source material for "A Paw in My Face" (on 2007's From Here We Go Sublime). Regardless, Ballads, a limited-edition and self-released EP (100 copies), adds an unexpected twist to Templeton's ongoing story: while his recordings have liberally drawn from extra-musical sources-field recordings, found sounds, and the like-never before (to my knowledge) has his work drawn so directly from the recordings of another artist.
Of the four songs, the opening "February 23rd" features Richie most conspicuously. Amidst shuddering waves of static, one hears his voice, and specifically the "tell you time and time again" section from "Hello," repeating hypnotically in fractured form. Other elements-melodies and chord progressions-from the song surface in bits and pieces, resulting in a dizzying four minutes that's unlike anything else in the Templeton discography. No Richie original is as identifiable during "Broken and Remade" even if, shredded into fragments, his voice can be heard bleating at the center of a cyclone. A different mood altogether is created during "Horizon," a placid setting for acoustic guitars and electronics where he appears as an intermittent whisper. The Richie factor diminishes with each song until "Drowning in Memories," three minutes of bass pulses, vaporous smears, static, and electric guitar, seems to dispense with his presence altogether.
Don't get the wrong idea: Templeton hasn't abandoned the style of music-making documented on his Anticipate recordings. On the EP, clearly etched electric guitar lines are heard on occasion but more often than not he uses his gear to generate billowing masses of textural sound, and the twang of Templeton's guitar can be heard in the flutter that ripples across fields of turbulent shadings. But Ballads nevertheless sounds like an arresting new chapter in his development. - textura.org - July 2010
Mark Templeton is an artist I've enjoyed since first hearing his work on his 2007 release "Standing on a Hummingbird". His sound is beguiling - glitchscape pop simultaneously jarring and catchy...
There has always been something human amongst the machinery on Templeton's releases and here, on this tour CD, this humanity is evident in a downplayed sense of humour: Templeton uses Lionel Richie as source material for the four tracks on "Ballads". Yes, you read that right. Lionel Richie.
The source material is only clearly evident on the first tune "February 23rd" as a mid-track jittering breakdown reveals an unmistakable snatch of "Hello" before Richie's voice and the tell tale chord progressions get subsumed again in digital hiss and play out in the echoing distance. Throughout the rest of the E.P. the source material is treated to Templeton's obliterative ambient dissections - stretched, brought sharply into focus and washed out into vistas of decay leaving only the merest hints of the tunes original provenance.
Fans of Templeton's work need not be worried that this disc represents a descent into parody - it doesn't. The artist claims the source material, makes it his own and, in the process, delivers some of his most accessible and immediately enjoyable music so far. Although only a short offering, "Ballads" allows Templeton's sound to breathe and shows a softening of some of the more abrasive textures that can be found on his previous releases. Whether this is the gentle influence of Lionel at work or just Templeton showing his slightly calmer side, the results are eminently and undeniably pleasing.
"Ballads" is an edition of 100 and will be available on Mark Templeton's July European tour and (if any copies are left) on his website www.fieldsawake.com thereafter. - John McCaffrey for Fluid Radio - July 2010
FEATURES
