Sometimes songs arrive for The Temper Trap fully formed from their creative imagination and other times, they go through changes that transform them entirely. The latter was true for explosive indie anthem ‘These Arms’, which features a soaring chorus of group vocals and a driving drum groove. The song went through multiple iterations, only settling into its final form once it came time to record with producer Styalz Fuego.
“These Arms is a song about being a place someone can return to. Not a way out, not an answer, just something solid when everything else starts to slip.
“The demo was really chill and almost Radiohead-influenced. It centred on the pre-chorus line of “into these arms of mine,” which became a kind of delicate mantra. When we took it into the studio though, Styalz flipped it on its head and suddenly it became super groovy and bombastic. I still have a soft spot for the original but this final version packs a real punch.” – Dougy Mandagi, The Temper Trap
Last month, the band also unveiled their highly anticipated national album tour for September and October. The run kicks off at Melbourne’s iconic Forum Melbourne (Friday 11 September), before heading to Brisbane for Night At The Parkland (Saturday 12 September). From there, the band travel to Adelaide’s Hindley Street Music Hall (Wednesday 16 September), followed by Night At The Barracks in Sydney (Friday 18 September), and concluding at ICF Warehouse in Perth (Friday 9 October).
Further cementing their global return, The Temper Trap were recently announced to support Muse on their upcoming North American tour, alongside major festival appearances at Outside Lands (San Francisco), Summerfest (Milwaukee) and Concerts In The Park (Sacramento)- sharing stages with the likes of The Strokes, RÜFÜS DU SOL and Charli XCX.
Soundtracking millennial youth through the 2010s with songs ‘Love Lost’ and billion-streamed anthem ‘Sweet Disposition’, and touring relentlessly across the world’s biggest festivals and stages, The Temper Trap collectively decided it was time to face their burnout in 2018, to rediscover their artistic identities, and live life.
Only when it felt right, after a four-year hiatus from touring and writing, did the band tentatively head back into the studio – and immediately felt an inspiring energy. Working between continents, sending demos back and forth, convening in Melbourne for studio dates, the resulting record delivers an impassioned and immediate sound.
Sungazer veers from yearning intimacy to full-throttle catharsis, from guitar-riffing indie tunes to heavy electronica, all anchored in Dougy Mandagi’s expansive, instantly recognisable voice. The band set out to create a record that authentically reflects who they are today, and it unequivocally distils two decades of experience into an album that is as invigoratingly surprising as it is unmistakably theirs.
Already clocking millions of streams and cracking top 30 US alternative radio charts, the songs we’ve heard from Sungazer so far – ‘Giving Up Air’, ‘Into The Wild’, ‘Lucky Dimes’ and ‘Sungazer’ – have already deeply resonated with fans across oceans and languages.
