For a band whose songs once felt inescapable to those coming of age in the early 2010s, vanishing for nearly a decade is a risky move. For Australia’s the Temper Trap, it seems to have been a necessary one. The group has announced its first LP in 10 years, Sungazer, which will be out July 10 in Mushroom Music.
Its soaring, deeply personal title track is out now, following prior pre-release singles “Giving Up Air,” “Into the Wild” and “Lucky Dimes.” “We had more fun making this record than any before,” the band says of the follow-up to 2016’s Thick as Thieves. “We’re in a great place creatively and in our friendships. Being back in the studio felt like coming home.”
The group is best known for its massive singles “Sweet Disposition” and “Love Lost,” which quickly turned it into an international phenomenon. By 2018, that pace had taken its toll. Frontman Dougy Mandagi relocated first to Berlin, immersing himself in electronic music, before returning to Indonesia. Drummer Toby Dundas pivoted into film scoring, bassist Jonathon Aherne released solo material from the U.S., and guitarist Joseph Greer stepped into teaching.
Only after four years away from touring and writing did they reconvene, and tentatively at first. Working remotely across time zones before regrouping in Melbourne, the band built Sungazer piece by piece. Written by Mandagi as a promise to his son before he was born, the title track shifts from the band’s usual widescreen romanticism for something quieter and more intimate—at least at first.
As previously reported, the Temper Trap will return to the road in a big way later this year while opening for Muse in North America. Festival appearances are also on tap at Milwaukee’s Summerfest and San Francisco’s Outside Lands.
