Alfie Templeman - Forever Isn't Long Enough (Album Review)
Friday, 14 May 2021
Written by Huw Baines
Photo: Blackksocks
To be young is to be messy and unsure of yourself. Unless you’re Alfie Templeman, apparently. To be young and Alfie Templeman is to be assured and focused. The teenage producer-musician appears to have already tamed the more shaggy, sophomoric impulses in his sound and ‘Forever Isn’t Long Enough’ arrives without a hair out of place.
The word is that this isn’t Templeman’s debut LP—it’s being touted as a ‘mini album’ despite having the same number of songs as ‘Born to Run’ and being longer than the first Ramones record—but it might as well serve the same purpose in terms of setting the seal on a sound that is eminently accessible and neatly realised.
Trading almost exclusively in glossy dance-pop framed by walking basslines and droll non sequiturs, Templeman delivers these tunes with the sort of confidence that comes across as not really being arsed about the whole thing.
That’s ideal, because they are perfectly tailored for semi-engaged listening. They are more like the illusion of a good time than an actual blood and guts good time.
He is almost too good at creating and maintaining a coherent atmosphere and a complementary palette between songs—there is very little friction, and few melodies or instrumental flourishes that jut out to grab our attention. As a result, there is not one bad song here—Wait, I Lied, in particular, is very good—but ‘Forever Isn’t Long Enough’ is capable of sliding by in a 30 minute wash of similar sonics.
With so much open road out in front of him, Templeman might soon view this collection as a warm-up exercise. He has mastered the basics and would appear to have charm to spare, but that personality needs to bubble closer to the surface and, maybe, feed into something a little more messy.
Alfie Templeman Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Wed March 02 2022 - NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE Cluny
Thu March 03 2022 - GLASGOW Saint Luke's
Fri March 04 2022 - LEEDS Brudenell Social Club
Sat March 05 2022 - MANCHESTER Gorilla
Tue March 08 2022 - SHEFFIELD Leadmill
Wed March 09 2022 - NOTTINGHAM Rescue Rooms
Thu March 10 2022 - BIRMINGHAM O2 Institute2
Fri March 11 2022 - BRISTOL Thekla
Sat March 12 2022 - BRIGHTON Patterns
Wed March 16 2022 - LONDON O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire
Fri March 18 2022 - DUBLIN Academy
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