Indie-psych band Temples have released their track Strange Or Be Forgotten - garnering up some excitement for their soon-to-be-released second album Volcano - with a beautiful and thought-provoking video directed by James Beale. 

We witness an unusual photoshoot set in an a cavernous, industrial arch, where frontman James Bagshaw is eager to capture a fraction of the essence in his larger-than-life subjects. These eccentric characters reveal their creative, passionate and occasionally quite tortured selves, through their unique artistic expression.

A fabulous bearded lady drag show, an intense extended-arm drawing is created, tears fall on demand, and full body painting is performed, and what's most powerful perhaps is the subjects' palpable confrontation with their own vulnerability, as they face the band like an artist facing an expressionless jury panel. 

JAMES BEALE:

"At it’s core this video is about being comfortable and confident in yourself, no matter who you are. I think we have moved into an age where people are genuinely worried whether they are kooky or different enough to fit in. Shock value seems to be at an all time high, be strange or be forgotten. I wanted to cut through that and find a number of diverse people whose emotions manifest physically through some kind of performance. So that’s what we did.

"We found eight characters, from bricklayers to drag queens, and asked them to come perform their own personal act. During their performances we shot a lot of stuff pretending to be practising or having camera difficulties to catch them unaware. Natural real character. We wanted to see different sides to each person not just their show face. Insecurities. Confidence. Anxiety. Then switch the act on. Empowerment. Emotion. Intensity. It’s brilliant to be different if that is who you are, you should embrace it, but it’s not all that matters. Hopefully I’ve somehow shown that."