The Temper Trap Announce Fourth Studio Album ‘Sungazer’

Today, The Temper Trap announce Sungazer, their first studio album in a decade and long-awaited fourth record – and unveil its heartfelt, explosive title track.

It comes as the band are announced to support Muse across North America this July/August and following their triumphant return to international television on Jimmy Kimmel Live! performing ‘Giving Up Air’.

Soundtracking millennial youth through the 2010s with songs ‘Love Lost’ and anthem ‘Sweet Disposition’, which has just surpassed one billion streams, and touring relentlessly across the world’s biggest festivals and stages. In 2018 The Temper Trap collectively decided it was time to face their burnout, rediscover their artistic identities, and live life. Lead singer Dougy Mandagi moved to Berlin and immersed himself in the city’s electronic music culture before relocating to his home country Indonesia; drummer Toby Dundas set up a recording studio and began scoring for films; bassist Jonathon Aherne released a solo project from his home base in America; and guitarist Joseph Greer threw his energy into teaching.

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’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.

“With time apart and much personal growth from us all, Sungazer feels like it’s captured the most pure collection of music we’ve ever made. We had more fun making this record and in the writing room than on any of the previous records we’ve done. We’re in a great place creatively and in our friendships, we’re closer than ever. Being back into the studio together really felt like coming home.”

– The Temper Trap

One of the band’s most personal songs to date, title track ‘Sungazer’ is a heartfelt offering from frontman Dougy Mandagi to his son. A promise to stand beside him throughout his life, the track captures the quiet, enduring love of parenthood. It channels the moody introspection of trip hop in its balladlike build before a rip-roaring outro returns the band to its explosive best. It’s this capacity for tender emotional insight combined with loud, joyous melody that ultimately makes The Temper Trap’s music such a lasting and unique presence – something that is both personal and communal.

“Sungazer is a song I wrote as a declaration to my little boy Ziggy before he was born. The lyrics are a promise to him, to be with him throughout his life.”

– Dougy Mandagi

Last week, The Temper Trap were announced to support Muse across an extended July/August North American tour, a definitive return to US shores alongside festival sets at Outside Lands (San Francisco) and Summerfest (Milwaukee) sharing the stage with the likes of The Strokes, Rüfüs Du Sol and Charli XCX.

It follows a series of global series of sold-out headline shows and festivals over the past year, reconnecting with audiences who have been with them from the beginning and a new generation who connect with The Temper Trap’s discography just as profoundly.

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’ and ‘Lucky Dimes’ – have already deeply resonated with fans across oceans and languages.

More about The Temper Trap

Few Australian bands of the past two decades have achieved the longevity of The Temper Trap. Across three studio albums, including two ARIA #1 debuts, the band have amassed well over two billion streams worldwide. Their seminal 2009 debut Conditions introduced ‘Sweet Disposition’, a song that not only topped charts internationally and achieved multi-platinum certification across Australia, New Zealand, the US and UK, but has become part of Australian music culture – placing #11 in triple j’s Hottest 100 Australian Songs of All Time. One of the most sought-after acts in the world, the band have hit some of the biggest festival stages globally, including Glastonbury, Lollapalooza, Primavera, Big Day Out and Laneway Festival.

Recent times have seen a resurgence of love for the band including a ‘Love Lost’ collab on Mac Miller’s posthumously re-released Faces mixtape and a slew of remixes for ‘Sweet Disposition’ (from the likes of John Summit, Vintage Culture, VXSION, Lost Frequencies and BUNT.). These new iterations of the band’s original hits have solidified their popularity with an entirely new generation of fans, re-introducing them to dancefloors and charts worldwide.