"Seattle singer-songwriter Luke Temple's debut is a collection of songs that even the most jaded anti-folk hipster could catch himself humming on the street. The tunes are deceptively simple, with Simon and Garfunkel-style melodies, and Temple's sleepy vocals belie a melancholy just beneath the surface. His high-pitched voice recalls a young Graham Nash by way of Elliott Smith......has enough understated soul to give Conor Oberst a run for his money." |
– Rolling Stone |
|
 |
|
"His voice alone is so damn good -- one of the prettiest voices in all of indie rock, hands down." |
– Ben Gibbard, Death Cab For Cutie |
|
|
|
"Mr. Temple isn't part of any particular school — not even that all-purpose new songwriters' catchall, freak-folk — and his private world is fascinating" |
– New York Times |
|
|
|
Allow me a few minutes to overcome my enchantment. Luke Temple…shows that he condones any and all melodies, no matter their dimensions or their forecast. He's a fantastic storyteller with an eye for turning those minute details of a life into little pieces of music that can then become memorable…The first keeper of 2007. There, it's said. |
– Daytrotter |
| |
|
 |
"Luke Temple has one of the most beautiful voices in pop music." |
– Sufjan Stevens |
|
|
|
There's a distinctly psychedelic bent to "Saturday People", too, with lyrical pictures like "a mescaline freak-out in an off-Broadway show/ In the morning," but another part of it is the way his voice curls around the vowels. In the song's fourth quarter, its breaks away from Sufjan Stevens comparisons entirely: Where Suf's endings float or soar, Temple throws in a leftfield groove, low and slithery. Cigarette, anyone? |
– Pitchfork |
|
|
|
"…They're just beautiful images, delivered in that pure, peerless crystal-clear tenor…Temple happens to know exactly what to add to a song to allow it to pass the threshold from "nice" into "wonderful. " |
– PopMatters |
|
|
|
"...has moments of pure giddiness that keep it from being fully mired in the doldrums.....has the upbeat feeling of Norwegian heartthrob Sondre Lerche's "Two Way Monologue."" |
– Spin Magazine |
|
|
|
Sounds like the lovechild of Neil Young and Sufjan Stevens. Delicate, sweet and quite special. |
| – Uncut |
| |
|
|
"Luke released his second LP this year to raves, and "Family Vacation" proves it all just...Consider the track stamped with our highest approval." |
– Stereogum |
|
|
|
"Luke Temple raises impossible expectations for his second LP by opening Snowbeast with one of 2007's best songs, "Saturday People," a trilling, rolling, delightfully disjointed indie-folk anthem packed with nonsense words delivered in a rangy, angelic voice. Recalls Jeff Buckley's drama, M. Ward's atmospherics, and Feist's sense of play." |
– The Onion AV Club |
|
|
|
Luke Temple. What a guy. The voice of an angel and the songwriting of a poet. Oh and the musical talent of a whole band, in one guy… The album is full of surprises, crazy instrumentation, and stories about life and love. Luke Temple doesn't sound like anyone else out there right now, which is super satisfying to me. |
| – Music For Robots |
|
|
|
"If it were just his songwriting we would be in love with these songs, but there is so much more…" |
– David Dye, NPR |
|
|
|
"Temple's dreamscape lyrics, playful instrumentation and warm, ethereal tenor deftly nudge the would-be boundaries of the singer-songwriter tag." |
– Paste Magazine |
| |
|
