I spent the better part of last weekend listening to The Temper Trap’s 2009 album Conditions and asking myself if this album was a low-key late aughts masterpiece that time somewhat forgot. The Australian-based quartet has all of the delayed glittery guitar grandiose of Edge from U2, the driving rhythm section of Coldplay that sounds like a freight train running through, and soaring vocal melodies that immediately sounded right at home on the main stage at Glastonbury. And boy oh boy can Dougy Mandagi sing his f***ing heart out– whether it’s his soaring falsetto on a song like “Sweet Disposition” or his edgy blues-based twang on the fist-pumping “Fader”, his range is impeccable and adds a sense of larger than life-ness every time he cranks it to 10.
Pitchfork of course hated this album (naturally), which scores the album even more points considering how stuffy that publication has become over the years. Some albums are meant for the advent of spring, born to be played alongside birds chirping and the laughter of your children running around outside chasing bubbles under the warm sun. Conditions is that album. An indie rock masterpiece, even for just a single solitary weekend in late May.
Standout Songs: “Love Lost”, “Sweet Disposition”, “Fader”, “Soldier On”, “Fools”, “Resurrection”
