Snark, sincerity…and more snark, of course
Where a typical artist, musician, or performer will think to themselves, “Hey, this is a good idea! I ought to sit down and do this as a project!” only to go right on playing Angry Fruitville, Burly Temple actually drops everything and does it.
It’s at least a partial explanation of how Burly (not his actual name) can consistently produce so much great material in so many different styles. It’s possible that not every idea pans out, that somewhere in his house is a junk drawer of concept albums that didn’t quite gel, but I doubt it. Of course, as is often observed, the truly great ones make it look easy.
Somewhere between “kiddie songs for smart children”, and “rap/country/electronica/spoken word” forays, the man behind the curtain has managed to sit down and record a new EP, Songs of Praise and Worship, Vol. 3. The EP saunters right out of the gate with a catchy dance tune about depression.
No other artist gives me as many opportunities to type sentences like that, but that’s what is. A pleasant sounding tune utilizing what sounds like an early ‘80s Casio keyboard, it is nonetheless quite straightforward about the signs and symptoms of depression, delivered in a friendly, pat-on-the-back, “I get it” manner.
The opening track is followed by “Smashmouth”, a jaunty consideration of the end of humanity in which our hero blithely points out that every mushroom cloud has a silver lining. In this case, the lemons-to-lemonade observation is that with the end of civilization and humanity, at least no one will have to listen to Smashmouth anymore.
Now, at first glance that may seem like some pure, uncut, ‘90s era pointless cynicism, the ‘90s being the birthplace of snark for snark’s sake, but that’s first glance and this is a piece of music.
After a first listen, the real modus operandi becomes clear. It’s not a song about ragging Smashmouth, it’s a song that observes the current state of the world, but much like a dog pill wrapped in peanut butter and bacon, the “funny” bits serve to help the hard truth go down a little easier. It’s worth paying attention to. Indeed, Burly’s work is readily recognizable by the “dog pill in peanut butter” analogy.
It is, at the heart of it, hard-hitting and uncompromising stuff and yet delivered with such a “we’re good friends having a chat” style that it never comes across as preachy or preternaturally world-weary and it never falls into the critically unthinking “cynicism as wisdom” trap that so many half-smart, half-talented artists do.
To the contrary, Burly is enormously clever and friendly, and is spot-on with no punches pulled when talking about serious stuff. Somehow he manages to be all of those things while retaining a sincere warmth and love, an optimism that is less sunshine and lollipops and more realistically rooted in, “Yeah, it’s a bad situation, but we can get through it together.” Or not. Maybe it isn’t so much, “we can get through it together” as it is, “If we are to have a chance of getting through it, it will be together.”
I guess what I’m getting at is that Burly Temple, in all his work, but especially this most recent offering, is completely devoid of empty-headed platitudes and unwarranted positivity. What he offers is real and genuine talk about genuinely uncomfortable situations, delivered in a reassuring and entertaining way that absolutely reeks of sincerity and realism. Musician, poet, psychologist, I’m not sure precisely what he is anymore except extremely talented, smart, and entertaining and it’s all right there in the notes of Songs of Praise and Worship, Vol. 3.
If you read this far and haven’t gleaned it yet, this is not a gospel album; the title is tongue in cheek. If you haven’t read this far or figured that out, well, what a fun surprise this will turn out to be.
Burly Temple’s latest EP is available now. I advise listening to it, especially if you’re day isn’t going well. It won’t make your day go any better, but it will, I think, give you a healthy dose of gentle humor and profound observation that will make the bad days easier to deal with and the good days so much the better.