Listen to Alfie Templeman’s strutting new single ‘Eyes Wide Shut’

Alfie Templeman has shared a new single called ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ – you can listen to it below.

• READ MORE: Five things we learned from our In Conversation video chat with Alfie Templeman

The strutting acid-trip-pop tune is said to channel music by Peter Gabriel and Beck, with Templeman singing about dealing with feelings of anxiety over a funky guitar line and big synths.

Its lyrics were derived from cut-up snippets of the London artist’s journal of thoughts, which he would write during the first 10 minutes he was awake on a morning. “‘Eyes Wide Shut’ is an amalgamation of ruminations I faced on tour,” Templeman explained.

“My brain always seems to be on full volume after a show and I find it really difficult to wind down. The adrenaline used to turn sour pretty quick once you’d get back to your hotel that looked the same as every other hotel.

“‘Eyes Wide Shut’ helped me express those feelings and since we started playing it live I often use it as a reminder to go easy on myself. It deters the burnout.”

He went on to say that ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ was the first song he wrote for his upcoming second album, which will follow on from 2022’s ‘Mellow Moon’ (a release date is not yet known).

“I knew I wanted to make big, weird pop songs,” Templeman added. “At the time I was rinsing Prince and Talking Heads a lot, lots of crazy staccato synth textures and nutty bass lines.”

In a four-star review of the musician’s debut studio effort, NME wrote: “The album carefully twists and turns through Templeman’s headspace as he searches for answers to an escape from the doldrums of modern life, flickering between loss (‘Do It’) and reassurance (the buoyant, mood-lifting ‘Colour Me Blue’).”