Following the release of the critically lauded A Man Alive in 2016, Thao the Get Down Stay Down's Thao Nguyen lost interest in the project as she struggled with issues including identity and family and in particular her ability to deal with them effectively through music. Eventually, she publicly embraced her long-hidden queer identity, married her partner, and headed back to the studio with bandmate Adam Thompson for the more personal Temple. Their fifth album overall, it was their first to be self-produced. Thompson also co-wrote half of the songs. While Temple still showcases the project's stark, brassy hip-hop rhythms and poetic, punky performances, it's a more meditative, lower contrast set than the declarative A Man Alive. Having said that, it opens on a surfy guitar lick, which is soon joined by the funky bass groove and disco-friendly synth-strings of the title track. A song inspired by visiting Vietnam in 2015 with her mother, a refugee of the Vietnam War, its contemplative lyrics include lines like "I have earned this sorrow/Mine to keep" and, as if to explain the war-themed track's catchy rhythms, "By day I gave grand speeches/At night, like you/We danced to be free." Another politically charged song, "Phenom" speaks to those who rise up in times of crisis on behalf of the vulnerable. It establishes a leaping, rumbling bass line alongside intermittent, melodic guitar hooks to accompany Nguyen's trademark sing-speak on a vocal line that, in this case, is more rhythmic than tuneful ("Feverish few, I will not drop it/Power cowards never stop it"). Later, the up-tempo "How Could I" should satisfy any cravings for a purer indie rock, with its steady snare marking two and four behind churning guitars, shimmery synths, and a lilting vocal melody. While the bulk of the album may be less infectious than that tune or the record's defiant predecessor, Temple's wonky mix of pop, rock, and hip-hop hooks remains engaging and recognizably theirs. ~ Marcy Donelson, Rovi

1		Temple
2		Phenom
3		Lion on the Hunt
4		Pure Cinema
5		Marauders
6		How Could I
7		Disclaim
8		Rational Animal
9		I've Got Something
10		Marrow

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