While Alfie Templeman visited Berlin for a short press trip, we had the chance to have a little video chat with him about his new record, Radiosoul, which is out now on all platforms. We spoke about the process of making the record, what happiness means to him and a lot of other things.
Listen to one of our favourite tracks and watch the music video to ‘Hello Lonely’ here and catch Alfie live on tour later this year – all tour dates can be found right here on his website.
I’m just gonna dive right in, so you’re gonna release an album soon. It’s gonna be a second album – called Radiosoul – do you wanna tell me a little bit about it?
Yeah, I mostly recorded it last year, 2023, and the whole idea was to go the complete opposite way of the first album. Goodbye, the first album, was mostly recorded during the pandemic, so lyrically speaking, I didn’t have too much to sing about because nothing was really happening. Between that album coming out and now, life changed a lot. We started doing a lot of things, like going on tour. We had a really busy year in 2022, and then everything went completely silent for a while. It was a weird contrast, so I wanted to capture the two sides: coming out of the pandemic and the quiet period that followed.
With the first album, most of it was recorded in my bedroom by myself, and I felt kind of limited in my production. So, for this one, I wanted to work with other artists and producers that I really liked. I put together a small list of producers I wanted to hang out with and collaborate with, and then I wrote a bunch of songs. They all kind of pieced themselves together. I left them not half-baked, but like three-quarters baked, so that the remaining quarter could be done spontaneously in the studio. This kept the energy of the songs alive.
I took a lot of time to write the songs, but not too much time to actually produce and record them. So yeah, it’s a very energetic, kind of crazy album.
Amazing. And like very collaborative right? Because a lot of amazing people worked on it I saw that Nile Roger’s features on one of the songs as well.
Oh yeah!
How did that come together?
A few years ago Clara Amfo, a big DJ for Radio 1, and I talked about one of my songs on her show. She said my guitar playing gave her a Nile Rodgers vibe, and I was like, “Yeah, I love Nile Rodgers! I totally rip him off all the time.” She joked we’d work together someday, and I thought, “No way, that’s never gonna happen.”
But then, one day, Nile hit me up on Twitter. I was like, “What?!” He invited me to Abbey Road, so I went to meet him. We didn’t record anything, just met and said hi. We ended up going to Nando’s, it was crazy – he had a Nando’s Black Card!! While we were eating, he played my music and said he liked it. A year went by, I thought that might have been it, but then he reached out and said he’d like to record with me! He invited me to Miami, so I went by myself, super nervous. Nile was amazing. We had two or three days of recording together. He’s over 70, and has so much energy. We did 12-hour sessions! He told me all these interesting stories. It was such a nice time, just jamming with him. I had this riff I wrote five years ago, and thought, “Why not show it to him?” He liked it and started playing it. We laid it down, and it happened. It was incredible.
I like when it comes together in a natural way rather than the label just putting artists into a room
Exactly! And to be honest, that’s what this whole album is about. I didn’t want to go with that forced label approach. It’s so much better working with people whose stuff I already like.
I love it. Do you have a favourite song on the album?
Yeah, it’s called “Beckham.” I don’t know why, but it feels unique. It doesn’t sound like anything I’ve done before. It’s got these crazy synths, and I played the drums on it. I’m really proud of the drumming. It’s got lots of interesting layers, and it’s about moving to London, which was quite an experience since I’m from Bedford. It was like, how do I fit into a city overflowing with amazing creatives?
I’ve read that you had times where you struggled a little bit with doing social media, touring, writing – everything all at once and everything happening very fast. So I was wondering, how do you recharge your battery?
Good question. Most of the time, I just get out of the house. I think it’s an English thing to spend a lot of time inside, and it gets to your head. Sometimes, I go for a walk or book a flight somewhere for a couple of days. It helps me reset. Sometimes I stop playing music for a while too. It’s weird, but to create, I sometimes need to not listen to other things.
Absolutely, I get that, yeah. I’ve spoken to a couple of artists and a lot of them said that that sometimes listening to other people’s music while you’re trying to create something new can be inspiring and extremely distracting at the same time.
Yeah, definitely. I read that Fiona Apple doesn’t listen to anything at all when she’s making a record. It’s like that for me sometimes too.
What would you say is something that you’ve learned this year?
Ooh, well, I don’t know if I learned it this year, but it’s something I’m getting better at right now. It’s just not rushing ideas and my creative process. I feel like with this new record, it’s the first time I’ve really tried to do that better. Every time I write a song now, I really take my time with it and try to perfect it. You know, like I was saying earlier, I work on the energy when it comes to actually recording it.
Since I reached my 20s, I don’t know, I put all this pressure on myself because artists—musicians in general—normally create their best work in their 20s. I think I was overthinking that a lot. My girlfriend had to calm me down and say, “Look, don’t worry about that. The more pressure you put on yourself, the harder it is to create anything in the first place.”
So yeah, I’m just trying to go easy on myself. I’ve got plenty of time. Who knows? I might make a really good one when I’m 60!
Yeah, I think it’s a very normal thing in your 20s. I feel that too, like you need to be at a certain point or achieve something by a certain age, but actually, you really don’t
It’s just pure existential dread, isn’t it?
Yeah, and we all have it it seems.
Are you listening to any good artists at the moment?
Let’s see… I like LA Priest. He makes his own drum machines and stuff. He used to be in a band called Late of the Pier, which was pretty good. I’ve been listening to a lot of Caroline Polachek too, especially “Desire.” What else… Unwound, a lot of Portishead too… those are obviously older bands, but yeah. Also, Mk.gee, I’ve loved him since I was like 14 or 15. He’s rising up a lot more now, which is nice to see. I used to steal his production techniques a lot, so it’s great to see him change his sound with every release. He’s a really interesting artist and I think he’s the future.
Amazing I’ll have to have a listen. Always love learning about new music.
Yeah, definitely check out “Two Star & the Dream Police” by Mk.gee. It’s really good.
What would you say was the best advice that you were ever given?
It’s like what I was saying earlier about not rushing. When I went into the studio with one of the producers, it wasn’t like he gave me direct advice, but his work ethic was inspiring. I wanted to come in with all these songs, but he was like, “No, let’s just keep messing around with ideas and trust the first ones that come to mind.” There’s a reason those ideas come to the forefront of your imagination. A lot of times, I’ve regretted not trusting my initial melodies because I thought they were too basic. But then I’d hear something similar on the radio and realize it sounded really good. So, for me, I need to trust my first ideas and keep things simple, especially with melodies and choruses, to reach as many people as possible.
What does happiness mean to you?
Oh, that’s a nice one. It’s quite simple: just being with my girlfriend at home, with the cats. It’s weird, but I always think about what happiness means to me when I’m on a plane. I have a bit of a fear of flying, so being on a plane makes me appreciate the simple things in life, like my family and girlfriend. Those simple things fuel my creative process and make me want to create.
I relate to that. So anything that grounds you, right?
Exactly!
So what are you most looking forward to this year? I’m sure you have of fun plans.
Honestly, just getting my album out. I’m really excited to see it finally come out. I finished it last September or October and mastered it in Berlin. It’s a mix of wanting the album out and creating more music. Creating music is what drives me. I’ve always wanted to document bits of my life through albums and EPs. I’m intrigued to see what happens this year. I don’t want to overthink it; I just want to be surprised by what happens. I’ll be touring and playing shows everywhere again, which I’m really excited about. When we did our first big tour, we were naive and didn’t take it all in. Now, I’m looking forward to going to some of the same places and experiencing them properly this time. I think it will fuel the next songs I write. I’m excited to see what my next album sounds like after doing all this.!
Sounds like you have a fantastic year planned! Thanks so much for your time, and I can’t wait to hopefully see you play the new songs live soon!
