Miles Temp: Wasn’t There

Liverpool has a habit of producing great singer/songwriters, such as Edgar Jones and Jamie Webster, and this is a tradition that looks set to continue with Miles Temp with the release of fifth track, Wasn’t There.

Miles has been making a name for himself the old fashioned way, by playing gigs, releasing his songs and building up an audience as he goes. BBC Introducing and Liverpool’s Sound City festival are already believers in the cause and should raise his profile further.

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Wasn’t There features finely picked guitar, plaintiff vocals and added atmosphere and marks Miles Temp out as one to watch. The songs is minimal in instrumentation but high in character and charm.

Starting out with a simple guitar refrain, Wasn’t There showcases a fine less-is-more attitude. The first surprise is when Miles’ voice comes in; his is a voice full of emotion, with a yearning quality, an easy falsetto and a good vibrato that puts me in mind of Thom Yorke.

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Now that Radiohead have popped into my mind I find more common ground between them and Miles Temp. It raises the interesting prospect of what Temp could do with a band of like-minded and inventive musicians behind him. This is not to say that there is anything missing in his music as things stand, he creates a full and quietly epic sound and Wasn’t There works its unassuming way under the skin and sticks in the mind long after it has finished playing.

Repeated plays of Wasn’t There has led me to the rest of Temp’s releases and to a trove of gentle, introspective gems as well as some more upbeat full band songs. There is much to love here and we at Sun 13 would bet money that the term ‘one to watch’ is not one that will be applied to Miles Temp for much longer, as he steps up the rankings and into the public eye.

Wasn’t There will be released on April 19. Pre-order from found on Bandcamp.