Get to know Paula Temple

Paula Temple thought she was done with techno. After releasing one EP over a decade ago, the Lancashire-born DJ and producer swapped decks for a day job in music tech, teaching underprivileged kids in Leeds and co-developing the innovative MXF8 MIDI controller. But after a series of upheavals in her life, she returned to music with a greater resolve. “I let go of all my self-consciousness,” she tells us. “I said: I’m just gonna make what excites me.”

She returned to music in 2013 with apocalyptic techno bruiser ‘Colonized’ on R&S, label boss Renaat Vandepapeliere signing her almost immediately upon hearing her new tracks. “He went apeshit on the spot listening to them,” she says.

Temple discovered techno after getting hooked on groups like Autechre and LFO and labels like Warp Records. She was a huge fan of Jeff Mills and the late John Peel, who would both end up being early supporters of her music: Mills included her track ‘Contact’ on his seminal ‘Exhibitionist’ mix, and she was invited to perform a Peel session – though she never followed it up. “It was just too overwhelming at that time and at that age,” she says.

With more music set to land on R&S soon, Temple plans to start working on her debut album for the label. “They’ve been so supportive of my interpretation of techno,” she says. “I feel very loyal to them. I can’t wait to finish some material; I’ve never focused in an album way before.”

Paula Temple’s Australia tour starts at Unsound Festival Adelaide on February 27