Album Review: Art Feynman – Half Price at 3:30

Cosmically obscure and nocturnal

Delving into the obscure and surreal once more, Luke Temple returns as Art Feynman for his second studio album Half Price at 3:30, which is sure to turn and twist the mental psyche with popping cosmic melodies.

Musical side project Art Feynman is the product of Brooklyn’s quintet, Here We Go Magic’s inspirator, New York muralist Luke Temple, who debuted Art Feynman in 2017 with Blast Off Through the Wicker just a year after Temple settled into his new home in California.

With strong ties in his artistic works in the art world, Temple promotes his image and music with artistic glam particularly through photos of his face obscured along with his sound that can be alluded. Perhaps compared to that of a blend of something of STRFKR and PartTime due to contemporary and surreal cosmic folktronica that makes Temple’s work unique.

Released June 26th, Half Price at 3:30 presents a strange psychedelic dance-pop musical adventure of serenity fit for an evening of majestic obscurity and drab that beckons to let out your inner oddity. With a quick one and a half-minute track intro, “Dtime,” the album is propelled to life. It eases into the second dreary and eccentric track “Taking on Hollywood,” with abnormal produced synth melodies that are chilling and calming like the early evening.

With odd glamour by bouncing synths, “China Be Better” is lax with a hitting upbeat tone lead by Temple’s smooth vocals that makes for a perfect atmosphere in the neon lights of surreal nightlife. Dialing down to a slower pace, “Ideal Drama” in its peculiar form is perplexing with its psychedelic tune and rhythm that drowns the listener to a state of tranquil composure; i gives off a familiar essence to that of David Bowie’s ’70s productions with a harder objective on soothing the mind through abnormal sounds.

“The Physical Life of Marilyn” strikes familiarity to that of Part Time’s 2015 album Virgo Maze, with an aesthetic vibe closely matching a hole-in-the-wall untouched in its unforeseen habitat longing to be cherished through sways to guitar strums and riffs, and vibrant flute-like synths. Like a going away message, “I’m Gonna Miss Your World” brings a nuance of empathy through dreary, repetitive vocals and upbeat and distorted synths and percussions that call for a late evening boogie when no one is watching.

Dripping synths curate the flourishing track of “Night Flower” like rippling drops of water making a poetic tune, and heavy synths drowning the backdrop, perhaps illustrating a scene of blooming flowers in the night. Jazzy and upbeat, “Not My Guy” puts the flare of obscurity into Half Price at 3:30 with bizarre vocals overlaying the quirky rhythmic bopping melody comprised of synths and an eccentric guitar riff bridged outro.

With a trippy aesthetic, “Emancipate Your Love Life” is laced with passionate vocals while supportive, soft guitar strums and waning synths give a dreary heartfelt eye closing experience before hitting the synth-chill-wave atmosphere of “Nancy Are You Hiding In Your Work.” The track pops with a laxed, smoky keyboard energy that has an underlying energetic background to keep people secured in the rhythm. Like a lullaby, “I Can Dream” works itself as the album’s outro track, being soft and laid-back due to easygoing low-tuned synth and keyboards, and Temple’s lowered vocals gives the album a soft lay to rest as the track hits its fading 3:57 end time.

For any who find themselves in pursuit of something extraordinary, Half Price at 3:30 is a commemoration to the haunting oddity of nightlife that can be at times magical and surreal when taking a moment to take it in whether in the hole-in-the-wall venue or under the stars at a local park. The album gives a flare of that cosmic and obscure aesthetic that is so often found in the musical underground world.