It’s All About The Ooooohs

So everyone’s getting in a tizzy about Melbourne band The Temper Trap.  Are they the next big thing or not?  Does debut album Conditions justify the hype in majestic fashion, or is it merely a collection of half-baked ideas and rock cliches with a couple of good tunes poking their noses out of the detritus?  Maybe, maybe not… does finding the definitive answer even matter?

What IS important right now is just how great a song ‘Fader’ is.  Appointed as the latest Temper Trap single, this 3 minute extravaganza ticks all the boxes required of an ‘infectious singalong anthem,’ as it should hereafter be tagged, with all the necessary clichés present and correct (yes please!).

Naturally, we start with The Quiet Bits – a restrained keyboard chord progression that builds tension little by little, as drums and bass rumble along, driving the song towards the inevitable orgasmic explosion of a chorus, it’s what we’re all waiting for, and oh my god here it comes….  The Loud Bits – a glorious cacophony of crunchy guitars, with a soaring, angelic bunch of oooooh oooooh ooh-oohs for a chorus that burrows deep into your head, like a malfunctioning iPod that’s trying to play Blur’s ‘Song 2’ and the New Radicals’ ‘You Give What You Get’ simultaneously on constant repeat.

That chord progression, it’s not too shabby at all, a well worn V-VI-IV affair, resolving now and then on the I, with a juicy inversion second up that gives the melodies a tinge of melancholy and nostalgia, to send all the girls weak at the knees and have the boys coming over all sensitive… hold on, why on earth am I analysing the chord progression, who cares what’s going on, when are those oooooh oooooh ooh-oohs coming back? Ah there they are, NICE ONE!

Excuse me, I need to go and lie down.