Comedian James Acaster has announced a new music project, Temps, which sees him working with a range of other musicians, including Seb Rochford, Shamir and Nnamdi. An album is set for release on Bella Union next year, and first single, ‘No, No’, is out now.
In 2019, Acaster published a book called ‘Perfect Sound Whatever’, in which he argued that 2016 was the greatest ever year for music, and for which he interviewed many of the artists who recorded the albums he featured. During the first COVID-19 lockdown, he got in touch with a number of those musicians and asked if they’d like to collaborate with him on some new music.
He spent the next two years sending tracks back and forth, cutting up what his contributors provided and adding drums himself - describing himself as “a DIY Gorillaz”.
“I became completely obsessed with this project”, says Acaster. “It was all I focussed on for two years and we ended up making my favourite thing ever. I hope people enjoy it”.
Featuring Shamir, Nnamdi, Quelle Chris, Xenia Rubinos, Seb Rochford, Deerhoof’s John Dieterich, Joana Gomila and Laia Vallès, you can watch the video for ‘No, No’, here: