The Temper Trap

Last month, Australian band The Temper Trap released the self-titled follow-up to their much-lauded 2009 debut. (You may best remember them as the band behind “Sweet Disposition,” the ubiquitous single that went on to appear in both Diet Coke and Chrysler advertisements.) There really isn’t any groundbreaking equivalent to “Sweet Disposition” on The Temper Trap, but the record does find the band in transition, seemingly on the verge of placing its new sound. Frontman Dougy Mandagi sings with less of the fragile high-pitch sustain that marked much of the band’s last album. Instead, we get hints of more experimental, synthesized ’80s Brit pop on tracks like “London’s Burning” and “Where Do We Go From Here.” Elsewhere, songs like “Need Your Love” and “Trembling Hands” have a cathartic U2 feel, while “This Isn’t Happiness” and “I’m Gonna Wait” are reminiscent of hopped-up version on The Killers. The album carries most of its strength in the first half, but those tracks are a positive sign that The Temper Trap will be around in the future and that they’re capable of stretching beyond their sonic comfort zone.