Singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Alfie Templeman doesn’t overthink his art.
“Having a natural drive for releasing music and putting it out meant that I came to grips with a rough idea of how releasing stuff goes and also the bleakness of it,” Templeman said in a recent Zoom interview. “Before I got signed, I released countless songs, albums and EPs that got zero streams. When you do that enough, there comes a point where you accept that, but you have to keep going. I learned a lot about the industry and tried to push myself to make music that feels fun, new and fresh.”
The 21-year-old is gearing up for his North American tour, including a stop at the Teragram Ballroom in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Oct. 16, in support of his sophomore album, “Radiosoul.”
“We haven’t been to the States in about two years now,” he said. “I’m excited to play new music for people, but I’m also excited to go back and sight-see. As I’ve grown up, I’ve become more interested in seeing the world.”
Before becoming a touring musician and songwriter, Templeman lived with his parents in the quiet English village of Carlton, Bedfordshire. At 13, he was self-producing on his phone with GarageBand software and pipelining the releases of the results onto Bandcamp and later Spotify.
Two years later, he signed with Chess Club Records, a label that spawned from the monthly Chess Club Night in London, which hosted early shows for bands such as Florence & The Machine , Bon Iver , MGMT, The Vaccines, Mumford & Sons , The XX and others who exploded in popularity.
Growing up, Templeman’s father was a guitarist who would play him the music of Chuck Berry and The Meteors. He encouraged him to pick up the instrument, and it would be one of many that Templeman would teach himself. He’s now proficient in the cello and drums and knows his way around the synthesizer, which is featured prominently alongside the many instrumental sounds on “Radiosoul.”
“I was reading about Thom York and (the Radiohead album) ‘OK Computer’ where he said he just got really fed up playing guitars, and I kind of relate to that,” he said. “I go through phases of wanting to try different things. What’s the harm in buying a different instrument and adding it into the song to see what it does?”
“Radiosoul” flexes Templeman’s musical abilities and experiments with a variety of sounds and pacing while maintaining the unison of a carefully curated playlist. The title track opens with a smooth saxophone, providing the foundation for a laid-back groove that escalates into a full-blown jam, setting the tone for the rest of the album. Other songs, such as indie pop “This is Just the Beginning” and the funky “Drag,” are feel-good bops where inspiration to dance flows naturally.
“I’m drawn to energy,” he said. “The energy is the first thing that needs to come into the song. That comes with good vibes and an uplifting feeling. I don’t think I intend to do it, but I guess it’s just the natural way that I work.”
Despite the sparkly pop backdrop of the album, more serious themes, such as the end of adolescence, are present. “Eyes Wide Shut” deals with moving away from home, social media struggles, the toll of touring and coping with anxiety and panic attacks.
Templeman said one key difference between the release of his first album, “Mellow Moon,” and “Radiosoul,” was the adjustment to a new environment away from his parents’ countryside home and to London, one of Europe’s most prominent cities.
“It was a massive 180 for me to completely change environments,” he said. “At first, that felt great, but then all of a sudden, it was like, ‘Wow, there’s so many amazing artists here already. How do I fit in?’ It took me a while to get used to it, and it made me work extra hard to get better as a musician.”
For his next record, which he plans to release next year and has been written entirely in London, Templeman said he is enjoying the creative process and isn’t in a rush to become a viral sensation. He appreciates the speed of his career, which occurred gradually with his years of music experience. Templeman said he’s still adjusting to the demands of the music industry and fans. He feels that the intensity of the public eye and the demands for new music can create a daunting weight on an artist’s psyche.
“Unless you’re a massive artist, no one can really afford to be an artist without having to release stuff frequently,” he said. “It’s easy for people to assume that you’ve gone quiet, without considering that artists need time to make things. It’s always scary to feel like, ‘Do I rush my art so I know I’m financially stable? Or do I take time and risks to make something I’m really proud of that hopefully people will catch on to? It’s all a big guessing game in the industry, and it’s definitely becoming difficult to navigate.”
As for his frustration with people glued to their screens, which he expressed in a Rolling Stone interview in June, the Gen Z performer clarifies that the anti-social media sentiment in the title track, “Radiosoul,” wasn’t meant to disparage all internet use. The track’s lyrics “The radio stays on but nobody listens” references an era free from social media where radio was king. For Templeman, the internet was pivotal, after all he did cultivate his early fanbase online. He said the relationships he’s built with people around the world have also given him confidence in real-life interactions, which have been great for collaborations.
One of the tracks he’s most proud of on the album is “Just A Dance,” which was a project between him and one of his idols: guitarist, songwriter and record producer Nile Rodgers. Rodgers, the co-founder of the disco group Chic, was the musician that Templeman had in mind when he first wrote his version of “Just a Dance” five years ago but then tucked it away, hoping that one day he would have the chance to work with Rodgers.
After Rodgers listened to a BBC Radio interview in which Templeman expressed how the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer had inspired the song, he slid into Templeman’s X (formerly Twitter) DMs and invited him to Sony’s 5020 studio in Miami. The result was a groovy anthem of collaboration between the artists.
While Templeman is a performer, he said he sees himself in a Venn diagram intersecting between a producer and a singer-songwriter-musician. When asked which other musicians he’d like to work with in the future, his response was full of producers, such as LA Priest, but also some major heavy hitters, such as Björk.
“The list is massive,” he said. “These are pretty out there things, and I don’t know if they’ll ever happen, but a man can dream.”
Alfie Templeman
Where: The Teragram Ballroom, 1234 W 7th St., Los Angeles.
When: 7 pm Wednesday, Oct. 16.
Tickets: $27.65 at Ticketmaster.com.
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