M3 season approaches, which means a bevy of new music releases will be arriving in about a week’s time. The autumn edition of the gathering promises plenty of intriguing offerings, but one is quickly jumping out from the mass, at least for me. Electronic duo TEMPLIME are no strangers to M3 — they put out an EP with vocalist Hoshimiya Toto that came out at the spring edition, one which impressed the Otaquest staff at the time. The pair, which has described what they do as “kawaii garage” though I’d say that is a little reductive (but good hook), have kept busy since. They put out a busy little EP via netlabel Omoide Label, and most recently worked again with Toto on the upbeat Watertank EP. Each of them has shown how much promise this team has.
They might be on the verge of cashing in on it. They’ll share a new EP featuring Toto titled pureness at the fall installment of M3, and preview track “Take Me Out” finds their skippy approach to garage melding perfectly with Toto’s vocal longing. Listen below.
TEMPLIME and Toto channel nervous energy over the course of these three minutes and 42 seconds. Before, the pair’s garage sound offered a nice bounce often dappled by some synth elements adding some color and lightness to the proceedings. Toto’s voice also slid in nicely, though it always felt like it was always on its own wavelength. Yet “Take Me Out” offers full-on singularity between the two. The jittery beat TEMPLIME lays down ends up being a perfect compliment to Toto’s hushed delivery, here loaded with the desire to go out and experience something, even if that possibility is only just that. It practically shakes, and the beat becomes a heartbeat emphasizing the nerves flaring up all around it. A strong melancholy runs through Toto’s words — reflections on mistakes made “last December” hint at that, while references to growing older really make the pain of things slipping away all the more clear — yet TEMPLIME’s bounce offers something approaching hope. Everything is in its right place, and everyone involved have an emotional stunner to their credit now.
So yeah, absolutely pick this EP up if you find yourself at M3.