TC & The Groove Family return with their second single 'Temple', which is a spellbinding piece of spiritual groove and power.
Back in September, the Leeds based global beats jazz collective dropped their debut single 'Let's Start' that received support across the airwaves from Jazz FM, Worldwide FM, Totally Wired Radio, BBC Introducing West Yorkshire and the BBC 6 Music Craig Charles show - read Ben's interview with bandleader and drummer Tim Cook about that release here. The energy and power remains, but the new tune feels even more epic and ground-breaking in the journey it takes you on.
Tim Cook plays with real pace similar to one of his influences drummer Yussef Dayes, never dropping a beat and timing all stabs to perfection. Pariss Elektra introduces the song on the bansuri flute that takes you back to 70s Alice Coltrane, with the guitar and keys flowing out beautifully to provide the rhythm backdrop. A spiritual call to her African ancestors, Pariss Elektra chants “take me to my Temple”. In her words, “Temple represents a place of belonging, a safe space, a place where all can be free, in mind, body and spirit”.
The feeling of ascension from the instruments to match the vocals is sublime, and with a break for Nix Ward to solo on the rhodes before building up to Hannah Mae Birtwell's saxophone spiral really captures the energies the collective can move between. It's no wonder this track often ends their live shows, a magically entrancing fusion of grooves and dancing rhythms.
Tim had this to say about the new single:
"With 'Temple' we had never done the full thing live, so it was case of everyone bringing their own story. So Nix, Mikey and myself in our basement sweating away on the week of the gig supporting Yussef Dayes. It just came from an energy within us, and of course Pariss came along with that amazing, spiritual flute and everything just came together."
The above video shows 'Temple' from the gig supporting Yussef Dayes, an absolute killer of a performance. The artwork is just as evocative as the music, which Tim explains further:
"Ross Burns, an incredible bass player, producer and rapper, he's also an architect. He worked on the incredible artwork for us which is this pagoda and mountainous landscape. We realised from seeing the artwork it could be a metaphorical thing. The temple can be a spiritual place from within rather than just a building, so from that he changed the artwork to a head and it's the power of mental health and the mind."
New emerging producer Kalaux has delivered an explosive, exhilarating liquid-breaks remix that puts focus on the instrumentation of 'Temple' even further. Tim thankfully confirmed future remixes and original music will be coming out in the next year too - we can't wait!
Buy and stream 'Temple' here:
Follow TC & The Groove Family here:
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