Temps, an international musical collective created and produced by comedian James Acaster, has announced its debut album.
The album is called “PARTY GATOR PURGATORY” and is due to be released on May 19 on the Bella Union label. The 40-member band’s track “no, no”, released at the end of last year, became the album’s lead single. In addition to producing the album, Acaster drew the album cover himself using three markers.
According to a press release, the album is named after a plush toy alligator the size of a man wearing a T-shirt with the inscription “PARTY GATOR”, which Acaster won at a county fair at the age of seven. He kept it for decades before handing it over to his friends after he failed to convince the girl to keep it when they started living together.
The announcement of the album is accompanied by his second single “bleedthemtoxins”. In his bizarre music video, Acaster, dressed as a Party Gator, communicates with passers-by in and around London’s Victoria Park.
Check it out below:
The tracklist for ‘PARTY GATOR PURGATORY’ is as follows:
- ‘lookaliveandplaydead’
- ‘kept’
- ‘partygatorR.I.P’
- ‘no,no’
- ‘at(moves)’
- ‘partygatorpurgatory’
- ‘ificouldjust’
- ‘bleedthemtoxins’
- ‘partygatorresurrection’
- ‘slowreturn’
Temps, which Acaster described as “DIY Gorillaz”, appeared during the first COVID lockdown in the UK. Acaster has just finished a book and a podcast about music featuring several of his favorite musicians. According to the press release, Acaster still had all their email addresses, so he spent the next two years sending tracks back and forth between various musicians, who were given complete freedom of action.
“I became completely obsessed with this project,” Acaster said. “That was all I focused on for two years, and we ended up doing my favorite thing. I hope people like it.”
Speaking to NME in 2020, Acaster revealed that the song that changed his life was Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”.
