Growing out of the noise pop / post-punk project, The Lice, Nights Templar began in 2021 as a one man, dark minimal synth project influenced by bands like Suicide, Throbbing Gristle, and Absolute Body Control. The name was inspired by having been a member of the junior Freemasons organization, Demolay, as well as by the 1970’s horror series, “Tombs of the Blind Dead”. Nights Templar have just released their latest LP ‘Half The Year’.
Stream the LP via the Paisley Shirt Records Bandcamp below.
Over time the project evolved into a full live band, and gradually shifted away from its horror inspired beginnings towards a dreamy style of bedroom post-punk, utilizing a mish-mash of vintage and modern equipment.
‘Half The Year’ is Nights Templar’s third album (the first that is not self released) and is being released by Bay area label Paisley Shirt Records, primarily known for a warm, hushed, and intimate take on indie pop. It may seem a strange fit for Nights Templar at first glance, but ‘Half The Year’ pushes the Nights Templar sound further away from coldwave, towards a very minimal, almost hazy take on post-punk.
Influenced by groups like Young Marble Giants, Solid Space, ‘Seventeen Seconds’ era The Cure, early synth-pop Magnetic Fields, as well as more modern groups like Black Marble. ‘Half The Year’ attempts to blend post-punk and indie in a way that hopefully isn’t contrived, for an album suitable either for idle daydreaming or late-night brooding.
‘Half The Year’ track list:
Side A
1. Lonely Like the Devil
2. Floorboards
3. Famous Children
4. Blocks
5. Moral Panic
6. Fall Forever
Side B
1. Perversion
2. Puffy and Pale
3. Muted Tones
4. Dot & Helen
5. Motionless
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