Nobody ever accused
Robert Fripp
of thinking small, but reading the words of his partner on this album, keyboardist
Jeffrey Fayman
, one can be excused for wondering if the recording location -- an ancient Greek temple on an isolated island, thus the title - -didn't get to them a little. Whether or not one wants to truly believe that the two experienced "a Tibetan reincarnation ceremony high above the clouds" is up to the beholder (and
Fayman
wisely suggests that each listener needs to make his or her own decision). Cosmic conclusions and experiences aside,
Temple
is an invigorating and lovely release, close enough to new age to be potentially tarred with that brush but achieving its own particular grace.
Fripp
's contribution was about two hours worth of his
Frippertronics
guitar recordings, given to
for treatment and reworking. Given the two men's roots in '70s prog rock, there's understandably something of the vast and oceanic about the four tracks, with
's arrangements focusing on repeating rhythms and electronic flow like a slow mantra, slight variations and changes sliding in here and there.
"The Pillars of Hercules,"
the opening number, sounds like a sea constantly washing against a vast beach, rolling in and out -- if anything, it's close to the work
Future Sound of London
did on
Lifeforms
, another album
guested on. The shorter
"The Sky Below"
is a testament to
's abilities with orchestrations, a slow, undulating build of synth strings and gentle chimes with an appreciable sense of space in the mix. The half-hour title track follows, quite understandably the album's hypnotic centerpiece, taking the patterns from the first two numbers to longer and more involved levels of all-encompassing electronic flow. The gentle
"The Stars Below"
ends this serene, intriguing album on an appropriately calm, reflective note. ~ Ned Raggett