Indie-Rocker Alice Temple Releases Her Long-Awaited Album, “The End”
By Jeff Dorta
Nearly thirty years after the release of 24 Years of Hunger, an album AllMusic described as “one of the finest, most refined and fully realized recordings of the era,” alternative rocker Alice Temple makes her triumphant return to music with The End. In it, Alice delivers a searing new set of self-produced and performed, soul-baring indie pop tracks, all with her venerable, take-no-prisoners bite. ”The concept for making The End was simple,” explains Alice. “Just me in my bedroom writing songs about how I was feeling at the moment. That goes for the style of each song as well. It’s all about moods and feelings. The overall sound of the album is eclectic; home-made; heartfelt.” The End is being released through Brooklyn indie, Peace Bisquit, and is available for purchase iTunes, Amazon, and all other major retailers, as well as through streaming on Pandora and Spotify.
“The End is very much the sound of a fearless queer woman who has been through some stuff and is not afraid to confess it,” says Bill Coleman of Peace Bisquit. “It’s gritty, alternative and ruminating with a dark night of the soul undercurrent. Not dissimilar to other strong female artists like PJ Harvey, Courtney Barnett, Marianne Faithfull or Aimee Mann. Most importantly, The End has lots and lots of heart. It’s our pleasure to share Alice’s album and hopefully not only give her older fans something fresh to relish — she sounds as good as ever— but introduce her music and legacy to a whole legion of new ears.”
“Music takes me somewhere nothing else can,” reflects Alice. “I get totally lost in it and am able to create a better world in my head. 99% of my songs are autobiographical and about what was going on for me at the time while writing each one. I don’t consider myself a proper singer — and can be overly critical of my work — but I found a way to get the best out of my voice; and someone’s got to sing them! It matters that I put everything of me that I can into each song, otherwise it feels false.”
The first two focus cuts from the album will be “Move Me” and “I Grab My Keys”. “Move Me” is a churning, minimal, stomp of a song about being attracted to someone out of the norm. “I Grab My Keys” is a slightly hypnotic, new wave-ish dance track, set to an undeniable groove, about the end of a relationship. Together, the two songs act as jammy bookends to the story of a relationship.
A Londoner by birth, Alice Temple is known for a number of things. She was an ’80’s club kid staple and friend of Boy George. They were part of London’s Blitz Kids, which is credited with launching the New Romantic cultural movement and groups like Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Spandau Ballet, Billy Idol and Visage. She was in the music video for Culture Club’s 1986 single, “Move Away” and is believed to be the subject of George’s 1988 song, “A Boy Called Alice” in which she can be heard in the background, declaring “My name’s Alice and I am not a boy”.
Alice is also notable for being the first female UK and European BMX champion, as well as a top fashion model shot by the world’s finest photographers such as Mario Testino and Bruce Weber. She also had a well-publicized relationship with American model Rachel Williams.
Alice began her music career with collaborator Eg White (Adele, Florence & The Machine, Kylie Minogue). Their project, Eg and Alice, released only one album, 1991’s acclaimed 24 Years of Hunger. Q Magazine has since named the album one of the ‘Best of the 20th Century’.
She then caught the attention of tastemaker James Lavelle, one half of trip hop pioneers, UNKLE, alongside DJ Shadow. Alice was brought in to contribute “Bloodstain” to their critically-lauded 1998 album, Psyence Fiction, which also featured Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, Badly Drawn Boy and Richard Ashcroft of The Verve. She returned to working with Eg and together they produced her 1999 solo debut, Hang Over, released on V2. Alice’s second solo album, Be With You in A Minute was released in 2008 independently.
The End is Alice Temple’s first collaboration with Peace Bisquit. “Peace Bisquit is a small but passionate indie label,” explains Coleman. “It’s important for us to not be steered by current trends but to support our music community and its diversity. That includes a policy of ‘No Ageism.’ An artist like Alice deserves to have her story told and her music available.”
The End is being released through Brooklyn indie, Peace Bisquit and is available for purchase on iTunes, Amazon, and all other major retailers, as well as through streaming on Pandora and Spotify. The album also includes a couple favorite selections from Alice’s out of print album, Be With You In A Minute.
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FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/AliceTempleOfficial/
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YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu7K4iTGsXmeW_Qld9E81Aw
