Kav Temperley Interview Machines of Love & Grace

SOPHOMORE SOLO ALBUM 'MACHINES OF LOVE & GRACE' IS RELEASED TODAY

FEATURING NEW SINGLE 'THE FENCE' FEAT. JOHN BUTLER

+ ANNOUNCES NATIONAL TOUR FOR FEBRUARY

 

Two-and-a-half years in the making, Eskimo Joe frontman Kav Temperley has unveiled his sophomore solo album, Machines Of Love & Grace. A product of the past few years spent with a global pandemic at the forefront of our collective minds, it's an album that shows Temperley's iconic power as a songwriter and a storyteller, and further cements his status as one of the country's most prominent and beloved voices.

 

"Machines Of Love & Grace started its life in the very first week of COVID," explains Temperley, who calls the album his most ambitious work to date. "Myself and my wife had just returned from the US and then one day later the whole entire world shut down. At the same time, I also came down with a mystery virus that was too early in the pandemic to test for COVID. So while everyone went into lockdown, I began to isolate myself in my bedroom only talking to my family through a small crack in the bedroom window."

 

Beginning to write his new album as a way to deal with the chaos unfolding around him, Temperley slowly started penning tracks that covered the entire spectrum of emotions felt by the world at large throughout this time. "This album is rooted heavily in storytelling, and my hope is that by telling my story, people get their own stories back in return," Temperley explains.

The result is an album that is as powerful as it is eclectic, and comfortably sits alongside Temperley's already-impressive discography as one of his most accomplished records so far. In between the soaring choruses and hard-hitting lyricism, Temperley doesn't stray from the heavy topics, allowing them to serve as the harsh, realistic yin to the idealistic, comforting yang that the record provides. Machines Of Love & Grace expertly dives head-first into COVID-related themes, including those of self-isolation (Emergency In D Minor) and anti-vaxxers and the environment (The Fence), before switching focus to more widespread problems such as screen addiction in its title track, and the heart-rending realism of issues caused by alcoholism and domestic violence (Last Of The Wine).

All the while, these almost despairing tracks are paired by an overarching search for a sense of place (Homesickness, Graduation Day), combining to provide a unifying soundtrack that shows while we might have all felt an all-encompassing sense of loneliness throughout these past years, we certainly were not alone in our search for clarity.

 

Temperley also taps a number of his famous friends for Machines Of Love & Grace, including Little Birdy's Katy Steele, who joins in on Graduation Day, and John Butler, who appears in latest single, The Fence. "I first met John properly back in 2001 when he was living on the studio couch where we were working on our first Eskimo Joe album Girl," remembers Temperley. "He was a familiar face around town; he could often be found busking outside the Fremantle Markets with his dreadlocks and familiar 12-string guitar. Many years and shared festival lineups later we finally sat down to write a song together for the first time, the song was called We Want More and it ended up on his wonderful album Home.

 

"So two-and-half-years into the global pandemic, we got together again at his home in the beautiful surrounds of Margaret River," he adds. "We talked about where our heads were at, all the big decisions we were having to make due to the global pandemic, everything from the environment to the anti-vax movement. That conversation turned into a song called The Fence and where we ended up is that there is no room to sit on the fence."

 

Ultimately, Machines Of Love & Grace arrives as an album that Temperley himself describes as being much less considered, and more of an organic, almost reactionary composition that captures his own musical truth that resulted from these past few years. "With my first solo album, All Your Devotion, I was really searching for who I was as an artist outside of Eskimo Joe," Temperley explains. "I dug deep into my musical influences such as singer-songwriters from the early '70s like Neil Young and Van Morrison. However with this album there was less time to analyse what kind of record I was trying to make, because I was head-down, having to do everything myself. By necessity most of the album was written and recorded in my little studio in Fremantle, but the result is a much more organic rock'n'roll album that relies heavily on storytelling."

To promote the release of Machines Of Love & Grace, Temperley will be hitting the road for a solo tour in February to play cuts from the record in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth. Tickets go on sale Tuesday 25 October at 10AM AEDT from www.kavtemperley.com.au

 

Kav Temperley Machines of Love & Grace is out October 19.

 

 

KAV TEMPERLEY INTERVIEW

How would you describe your music?

 

I get most excited about storytelling, and when music and storytelling come together in just the right way it's just magical.

If you were to describe my sound it would be, Neil young and Van morrison going to meet Spoon and Wilco at a Taylor Swift concert

Can you tell us about your new album Machines of Love and Grace?

I  was always wanted to make an  album that reads like some sort of post apocalyptic true story, just like my favorite writers such as Margaret Atwood, Haruki Murakami and  Kazou Ishiguro.

The album starts with the introduction song "Emergency in D minor" , a song about emerging from isolation looking out of the window at the world and wondering if there's anyone out there.

 "Machines of love & Grace"which is about screen addiction and connectivity

"Homesickness" and "Graduation Day" which is about how our sense place changes.

"Last of the Wine"Alcoholism and domestic violence in 

What inspired The Fence feat. John Butler?

I went to visit John at his home in the beautiful surrounds of Margaret river.

We talked a lot about where our heads were at with the state of the environment and the anti vax movement etc, all these huge decisions that people were having to make under the pressure of a global pandemic.

What came out of that conversation was a song called "The Fence" . It's about how we are living through a time where there is no room to sit on the fence.

What was it like working with John Butler? Have you worked together before?

I have utmost respect for John whether it be has amazing musicianship or his activism, but we have this lovely connection because we both do very nishe jobs being career musicians, so there's not many people you can talk about family and work with.

We first got to properly work together when we co wrote a song for his album home called we want more.

This time round we thought maybe we were writing another song for his album, but it turned into a duet which is truly wonderful

Which is your favorite song to perform live and why?

 

It changes all the time depending on what songs youve just written and your mood on the day 

But from the sea is a song that never gets old to sing

Which music/artists are you currently listening to?

 

In my spotify playlist right now ive got

JoJi with YUKON (INTERLUDE)

Dijon with Talk

Chris Staples with Hold On To Something

Unknown Mortal orchestra with that life

Was there a moment you contemplated throwing in the towel? 

 

no , tragically im what some people refer to as a Lifer, its like a prison sentence but your sentence to keep making music for the rest of your life.

What is the biggest challenge you have faced along the way to your musical success? 

Finishing projects is hard, starting is easy, but  its that final 15% that makes it hard work, pulling up your boots straps and having to push on but it feels like you're never going to get there but then you put the album out and it's like you get instant amnesia and want to do it all over again.

I'm pretty sure that the definition of insanity

What advice do you have for aspiring songwriters or artists?

 

There are two ways of thinking about creation which are both basically saying the same thing.

Either, the more times you put your hook in the water the more chance you have of catching a fish or 

You don't believe in being able to make lightning strike but you can put yourself in the right place when lightning does strike.

Either way what the are basically talking about is that writing and creation should be a daly disiplin and and if you want to complete projects, then you've got to chip away at every day.

What's next, for you? Do you have a tour on the cards?

 

After my new album "Machines of Love & Grace" comes out on October 19th I'll be dropping a series of NFT's on Nov 22nd at a special event at the Oishi gallery in melbourne.

The NFTs are called Love in the key of A,B,C,D,E,F,G and features an original song that I've written and re-recorded in the seven different Keys. The art work was done in collaboration with Joseph Dennis who worked on my album artwork. The idea is that this is a web 3 extension of my album and stands alone as a beautiful piece of online art.

I'll also be hitting the road in February 2023 supporting my new album, playing all capital cities 

 

https://open.spotify.com/album/1aot35fuYxI06bxzpp7QsP?si=XaWQldfZTSewV1rNXFnXeA