Iris Temple is a band, more accurately a duo, or as they might put it simply; two best friends who speak the same musical language. The duo’s loose definition of what Iris Temple is could be a direct result of their distrust of a music industry that seeks to define, commodify and deplete everything in its environment. In fact, every part of Iris Temple’s process seems to defy the industry’s conventions.
Quinn Regan and Quinn Cochran, colloquially referred to as The Quinns in Chicago’s alt. R&B scene, have avoided the typical trajectory of “rising artists” for years. After each release in their early career, the band would seemingly go into hiding. Just as fans began to wonder if they had disappeared for good, a new single would mysteriously emerge online - groovy, full of life, melancholic yet playfully sincere; a thread in the musical lineage of artists like D’Angelo, Erykah Badu and Frank Ocean stretching into the future to remind us that music made with care can defeat the cold cynicism of the day.
Iris Temple’s latest hiatus has been their longest to date. After the release of their 2019 EP The Ones We Love, and the string of singles that followed, the Quinns vanished again. The two best friends faced individual battles with depression, anxiety, and existential vertigo amid the unending horrors of the news cycle. Being terminally offline, The Quinns found solace in their friendship and returned to their musical outlet once more.
Iris Temple’s upcoming project Ghosts of the Future is a stark reflection of life inside a decaying empire. Across seven tracks crafted at the intersection of electronic experiments and virtuosic live instrumentation the two trade verses and sing together in lush, layered harmony over subtly neck-breaking underwater grooves. The contrast between futuristic synths and acoustic strings in the project's sonic landscape mirrors the tongue in cheek dissonance between its laid-back production and biting lyrics. Whether by taking direct aim at the men who sold the world with sly commentary on tracks like “New Refrigerator” and “Wise Guy,” or by lamenting the destruction of love and nature on songs like “Over the Edge,” the Quinns interrogate the harsh reality of life under capitalism's pervasive corruption with understated maturity and warmth.
Releasing on Chicago outsider label Sooper Records, every piece of Iris Temple’s new offering feels as intentional as the music itself. From the magical realism of the concert film released in tandem with the project, directed by the duo’s close collaborator and recording engineer Yasmine Mifdal, to the CD sleeve adorned with Regan’s own illustrations - “Ghosts of the Future" feels like an invitation into Iris Temple's secretive world. It’s a quiet corner of the room from which to witness life's beauty and chaos with a friend who understands you.