Biography
Whether it be his intimate, often folk-leaning solo music or the panoramic experimental rock of his band Here We Go Magic, indie singer/songwriter Luke Temple allures with his breathy high tenor, naïve but tuneful melodies, and impressionistic, personal lyrics. His first solo album, Hold a Match for a Gasoline World, saw release in 2005. Temple formed Here We Go Magic in 2008, and their second album, 2012's A Different Ship, reached the Top 15 of Billboard's vinyl and Heatseekers albums charts. He changed things up with his fourth solo LP, 2013's Good Mood Fool, which explored the sounds of chillwave and R&B. The alias Art Feynman appeared in 2017 alongside the psychedelic pop of Blast Off Through the Wicker before Temple returned with more shape-shifting music under his own name, including 2024's narcotic Certain Limitations, credited to the trio Luke Temple & the Cascading Moms.
Born in Salem, Massachusetts, Luke Temple spent time in Northern California before heading back to New England to study painting at the School of Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. Once his training ended, he relocated once more, this time settling in New York City, where an emerging passion for music overtook his ambitions as a visual artist. He began composing songs and performing in intimate New York venues while capturing his work on a basic four-track recorder at home, allowing cassettes of his material to spread informally. One such demo eventually landed at Mill Pond Records, the Seattle-based independent label, which issued his debut, the four-song self-titled EP, in 2004; Hold a Match for a Gasoline World arrived the following year as his first full-length release.
A devoted audience emerged in the Northwest, prompting Temple to travel regularly between Brooklyn and Seattle. His visibility grew further in fall 2006 when “Make Right with You” appeared in an episode of Grey's Anatomy, elevating his profile, increasing sales of Hold a Match, and heightening expectations for future work. With Ben Gibbard and Sufjan Stevens now praising his voice as among the finest around, Temple issued his second album, Snowbeast, in August 2007.
Temple launched Here We Go Magic in 2008 alongside Michael Bloch and Peter Hale. Their self-titled 2009 debut featured Temple alone except for a single track that included the full group. Over the ensuing years he divided his efforts between the band’s off-kilter indie rock—Pigeons appeared on Secretly Canadian in 2010 and A Different Ship followed in 2012—and his own understated indie folk projects, such as 2011’s Don’t Act Like You Don’t Care on Western Vinyl. Shifting his solo work to Secretly Canadian in 2013, Temple also altered his approach; Good Mood Fool, cut in an upstate New York cabin with Eliot Krimsky on synths and Mike Johnson on drums, moved decisively toward the intersection of chillwave and R&B. He revisited folk-inflected narrative songwriting on 2016’s A Hand Through the Cellar Door.
After moving to Northern California in 2017, Temple assumed the Art Feynman identity, obscuring his face in promotional images and releasing Blast Off Through the Wicker on Western Vinyl. He issued Both-And under his own name via Native Cat Recordings in 2019, then returned as Feynman with the fully solo Half Price at 3:30 on Western Vinyl the next year.
Now based in Los Angeles, Temple tracked his third Art Feynman album live in the studio with a band. Portraying Feynman as an element of collective consciousness grappling with concerns from FOMO to potential societal collapse, he pointed to Talking Heads’ Remain in Light among the influences shaping 2023’s Be Good the Crazy Boys on Western Vinyl. Certain Limitations appeared on the same label a year later, credited to Luke Temple & the Cascading Moms and featuring Temple alongside Kosta Galanopoulos (aka PWNT) and Doug Stuart, each handling multiple instruments within a sonic palette of intricate guitar lines, spacey synths, and off-kilter grooves.
Born in Salem, Massachusetts, Luke Temple spent time in Northern California before heading back to New England to study painting at the School of Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. Once his training ended, he relocated once more, this time settling in New York City, where an emerging passion for music overtook his ambitions as a visual artist. He began composing songs and performing in intimate New York venues while capturing his work on a basic four-track recorder at home, allowing cassettes of his material to spread informally. One such demo eventually landed at Mill Pond Records, the Seattle-based independent label, which issued his debut, the four-song self-titled EP, in 2004; Hold a Match for a Gasoline World arrived the following year as his first full-length release.
A devoted audience emerged in the Northwest, prompting Temple to travel regularly between Brooklyn and Seattle. His visibility grew further in fall 2006 when “Make Right with You” appeared in an episode of Grey's Anatomy, elevating his profile, increasing sales of Hold a Match, and heightening expectations for future work. With Ben Gibbard and Sufjan Stevens now praising his voice as among the finest around, Temple issued his second album, Snowbeast, in August 2007.
Temple launched Here We Go Magic in 2008 alongside Michael Bloch and Peter Hale. Their self-titled 2009 debut featured Temple alone except for a single track that included the full group. Over the ensuing years he divided his efforts between the band’s off-kilter indie rock—Pigeons appeared on Secretly Canadian in 2010 and A Different Ship followed in 2012—and his own understated indie folk projects, such as 2011’s Don’t Act Like You Don’t Care on Western Vinyl. Shifting his solo work to Secretly Canadian in 2013, Temple also altered his approach; Good Mood Fool, cut in an upstate New York cabin with Eliot Krimsky on synths and Mike Johnson on drums, moved decisively toward the intersection of chillwave and R&B. He revisited folk-inflected narrative songwriting on 2016’s A Hand Through the Cellar Door.
After moving to Northern California in 2017, Temple assumed the Art Feynman identity, obscuring his face in promotional images and releasing Blast Off Through the Wicker on Western Vinyl. He issued Both-And under his own name via Native Cat Recordings in 2019, then returned as Feynman with the fully solo Half Price at 3:30 on Western Vinyl the next year.
Now based in Los Angeles, Temple tracked his third Art Feynman album live in the studio with a band. Portraying Feynman as an element of collective consciousness grappling with concerns from FOMO to potential societal collapse, he pointed to Talking Heads’ Remain in Light among the influences shaping 2023’s Be Good the Crazy Boys on Western Vinyl. Certain Limitations appeared on the same label a year later, credited to Luke Temple & the Cascading Moms and featuring Temple alongside Kosta Galanopoulos (aka PWNT) and Doug Stuart, each handling multiple instruments within a sonic palette of intricate guitar lines, spacey synths, and off-kilter grooves.
Albums
Hungry Animal
2026
Certain Limitations
2024
Both-And
2019
A Hand Through the Cellar Door
2016
Good Mood Fool
2013
Don't Act Like You Don't Care
2011
Singles
