On his sophomore album, Alfie Templeman is learning what not to do. We caught up with the genre-bending multi-instrumentalist for a deja-vu inducing reunion to find out how life’s been since his debut…
THE REUNION...
“We played over 100 shows in 2022, then after the tour I decided I’d rather focus on recording music as much as possible. I moved to London and that flipped my whole world musically. It was intimidating, but I’ve grown to love it. I’m sure you’ll agree - going from nineteen to twenty-one feels like a different person.”
It’s not often you get life advice from a nineteen year-old musician years into their career with a collaboration with the legendary Nile Rogers.
But in 2022, in a green room resembling a corridor behind the stage, I found myself writing a pros and cons list for each of my potential university choices with popular indie artist, Alfie Templeman.
On board Thekla on that spring evening, and as Templeman poured me a glass of Cola, offering me hummus (yet nothing to dip in it), we landed on Bristol. I conducted my interview with Alfie, watched the gig and applied once home.
Fast forward almost three years and we’re back on the boat, sitting in the same positions on the leather sofas in that exact green room. We’re now both twenty-one, but it’s pretty much the same - Templeman’s still offering up hummus, but this time with some celery (a touring essential).
I moved to Bristol; Templeman on the other hand, is now two full-length albums, seven EPs and a mini-album in.
That first Thekla show, Templeman was gearing up for the release of his debut album, Mellow Moon, a predominantly pop record whose influences barely match up to the sonics of the record.
Citing “proggy stuff” as his main musical interest, as well as more ‘folky’ influences such as Alex G and Elliot Smith in our previous conversation, Templeman explains how his new music takes influence from what he personally likes, rather than what he feels he should be making.
“Mellow Moon was a step forward for how open my songwriting was, but I feel like at the same time, I rushed it a bit and wasn’t completely clear on what I wanted to do or how to execute the songs.” He explains.
Back in the summer, Templeman’s second album, Radiosoul, was released, the title exploring how normalised social media has become, contrasting the concept of “how the first thing you do when you wake up is check your phone” with how his grandparents always have the radio on in the house, even just for background, an important aspect for their generation.
Most of its themes subconsciously explore coming of age, though, tied in with nostalgia. “Imposter syndrome was another big thing. I found it really hard coming off tour and knowing where to go next; what to talk about, what to sing about, what to say and also how to produce. I felt quite insecure for a while, so that was a big part of it.”
He adds the unpredictability and messiness of touring was a huge influence behind the record’s themes. “Half of the songs are about touring and it’s a good reminder for me on stage to calm down because I have an addictive personality - very ADHD brain!”
The album also encapsulates “that shift from being at the end of your late teenage years and actually being like ‘oh, I have to think about tax now!’”
Of his new release, Templeman is quick to acknowledge that his debut album served as a prototype for “what not to do.”
“I wanted to completely throw Mellow Moon on its head and do Radiosoul the opposite way.”
This meant stepping away from the production on this record, an aspect of the creation process Templeman had previously been in control of.
“I had all these ideas but it was like ‘how can I take what I can hear in my brain, materialise it and turn it into an actual audio file?’ I felt like I was burnt out from touring; there weren’t many sounds exciting me.”
He goes on to explain how he had a list of producers whom he respected, then contacted them to work on his sophomore.
The creation of Radiosoul became a much more collaborative one than its predecessor, recorded when Templeman was still very much a ‘bedroom pop’ artist, writing, playing all of the instruments, recording, and producing everything in his bedroom at his parents’ house.
“I had a lot of ideas ready to go but I’d leave them three quarters baked, rather than half baked, so people could input their ideas. Occasionally, there’d be a song where I’d go into the studio with an idea and the producer, Dan Carey, would be like, ‘I’d rather start something completely different and new, then we can build up the excitement together and start in the same place.’ There were different ways of doing it this time around.”
He knew he was writing for another album from the beginning, but wanted to challenge himself this time. “I gave myself three or four months to just see what happens, get in the studio and start writing. Four or five songs in, I had a sense of what the record was going to look like and the overall feel.”
He explains that this time frame to work on a project is long for him, especially in comparison to his EPs which were all finished within a month.
“Most of the songs are recorded in three hours and if I like it enough, I’ll just release it.”
The hard part, he reflects, was stringing all the songs together and actually making it feel like a record. “I spent a lot of time on the track listing, and I think it makes sense for the album as a whole.”
Templeman mastered the record himself, describing how he went to Berlin with his engineer to finish it. There, they checked if all the songs still sounded coherent and “sat nicely together” within the order.
“Some of the songs towards the end connect together, so it feels like a neat package all in all.”
Arguably one of the biggest collaborations on the record is Nile Rogers, the man behind essentially every song ever, whom we’d briefly discussed in 2022, before the pair had even linked up.
“Oh mate, yeah it was mad! I’ve just always loved his music and my mum used to play him so much in the car, but I didn’t realise how many bangers he’d actually written!”
Speaking of how the collaboration on new track, Just A Dance, came about, Templeman explains how he was on Radio 1 about a previous release, and Clara Amfo said she could tell Rogers was an influence. “I was bum licking him basically, and he heard it!”
After the radio show, Rogers tweeted Templeman. “We ended up hanging out, and we just got along. He made so much time for me and then we made that song!”
Despite the album being out less than a year, Templeman is already back to releasing new singles. Dirty Laundry, a song that’s “me just straight up saying my house is a fucking tip and I need to sort my life out” was released exactly a week before our reunion.
“I recorded a lot of other stuff alongside that song, but I don’t know what’s gonna happen with that. I think I just want to keep releasing singles for a bit, then if I feel like it, I might compile them into an EP or another mini album.”
His musical drive doesn’t halt at music under the name ‘Alfie Templeman’; the last time we spoke on Bristol’s famous boat, he’d just released a new album on his side project, Ariel Days. He’s since explained “nobody ever talks about that”, and it’s become a running “thing” to mention where the slightly wonkier, “looser” side project of pure self-expression is at.
“Before, the point of Ariel Days was to experiment with different types of music and to challenge myself,” he reflects. “The first project was done in 24 hours and when I sat down, I didn’t know what I was going to make.”
“Ariel Days is all about having fun and not knowing what’s gonna happen. It’s a bit of a mess, really.”
It’s something Templeman has been reflecting on recently, especially as he feels the musical self-expression within his side project has helped him to be more free within the music he self-releases.
“After Radiosoul, I have less of a reason to make another Ariel Days record because it didn’t feel necessary.”
But he doesn’t think it's done yet. “It’s been nearly three years since the last one, but I’d love to make another, more polished, Ariel Days record. I still treat those as albums, but I see them as more messy and scatterbrain. I want to do Ariel Days justice and make a really neat project that’s a bit longer.”
Tour manager, Jackson, comes in to inform us the boat’s about to depart towards an evening of indie rock goodness, leaving us to look ahead.
“I don’t know what’s next, and that’s all part of the excitement. Who knows? The main thing is I’m writing a lot of music, and I think the trick is not to get deep into the fact that I’m making stuff again. I’m going to start producing for other people. I’m going to start building my home studio when I’m back from tour. I am my own engineer!”
One thing we do know though is we won’t be leaving it more than two years for our next “Thekla yap” this time…
Alfie Templeman’s sophomore album, Radiosoul, is out now.
Find Alfie Templeman at:
Instagram: @alfietempleman
Twitter: @alfietempleman
TikTok: @alfietempleman
Facebook: @atemplemanmusic
KATIE HILLIER
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