The Temper Trap, Oslo - music review

Oslo, not the snowy Norwegian capital but a sweltering bar in the heart of Hackney, is the kind of venue that a band plays twice in its career: once on its way up, once on its way down.

Unfortunately for Aussie rockers The Temper Trap, theirs is more a case of the latter.

Having scored an international smash hit in 2009 with Sweet Disposition — a stunning track that sounded like Jeff Buckley covering U2 — they haven’t quite managed to hit the same heights since.

Still, with a third album on the horizon and a full house in front of them, the four-piece were in fighting spirits last night.

The angst-ridden Rabbit Hole got things off to a lively start, while Trembling Hands had a chorus to wake the dead. New song Burn proved that they haven’t lost their way with a skyscraping melody, while Dougi Mandagi’s elastic vocal range was stretched to its limit on icy ballad Miracle.

When the acoustic guitars came out, attention wandered. The Temper Trap are at their best when beats are big and the riffs are heavy.

If things felt a little over-earnest at times, a tongue-in-cheek cover of The Clash’s Rock the Casbah provided some welcome light relief.

Tellingly though, there wasn’t another track here to match Sweet Disposition: The Temper Trap remain a good band with one great song.