The Trouble With Templeton (TTWT), named after a Twilight Zone episode, is the creation of young, clean cut singer/songwriter Thomas Calder.
It started out as a solo project with the recording of Bleeders at his home in Brisbane, Australia but has since evolved into a 5-piece band with Calder at the helm.
He says: “The element of surprise is something we really enjoy in music, something we’re always shooting for. You don’t want to know where a song is going from the first two lines.”
These are laudable sentiments although their sound is not as experimental as he would have us believe. The influence of Radiohead, Fleet Foxes and numerous other 'alternative' Indie bands is so strong that little here strikes you as new or different.
Only on the final track, Lint, do you get any sense of a band cutting loose of tried and tested formulas.
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The arrangements are crisply melodic and Calder vocals are impassioned but I feel they'll need a strong image and a powerful live show if they are make an impact in a crowded market.
The signs are not good.
Embarrassingly hammy acting in pseudo Gothic videos for Like A Kid and Six Months In A Cast suggest their public profile is in serious need of a makeover if they are to be the next big thing.
TTWT's website
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