On The Download: The Temper Trap’s ‘Conditions’

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel made fans swoon over the summer with their independent romantic film, “(500) Days of Summer.”

The film, which followed the imaginative romance of Tom Hansen (JGL) and Summer Finn (ZD), was accentuated by a sparkling soundtrack of spine-tingly indie rock numbers – most memorably, The Temper Trap’s “Sweet Disposition.”

The gleaming number, which rides a tender lullaby-like crescendo to a chorus of jangly-guitar bliss, now has a full album of Temper Trap material to go along with it — the group’s debut LP, “Conditions.”

Songs like record opener “Love Lost,” are as beautifully delicate and swoon-worthy as their breakout mini-hit, but don’t ask singer Dougy Mandagi details about the recording sessions.

“As far as dates and stuff goes, I’m the wrong person to ask. I’m so bad with those things. I have no idea,” he laughed when On The Download asked him about how and when the group has been able to fit their album sessions into the whirlwind ride they’ve been on since the British and indie media latched on to the four piece rock outfit in recent months. “I think it was like – it was cold.”

It was actually earlier this year that the band recorded the album in London and their native Australia, where they are currently up for four ARIAs (the Australian equivalent of the Grammys) for “Conditions,” which finally came out stateside just a few weeks ago.

There’s a reason their home country is finally starting to recognize the four-piece – it’s down to great songs, like “Science of Fear,” which mix Dougy’s heavily rhythmic vocal lines with melodies of alarming freshness and emotion.

And with the critical acclaim, familial acclaim has met the group too.

“My family — they’re proud of me. Especially my mom,” Dougy, who was raised around the world including Indonesia, Hawaii and Australia noted. “It took her a long time to get what I was doing.”

The Temper Trap’s shows have been amplified as well, in part thanks to the “(500) Days of Summer” soundtrack.

“There have been moments where you kind of get the feeling that people are just hanging around for that song,” Dougy laughed. “It kind of felt like that at the beginning, but now that the record has been out… it’s getting better.”

But while the press is calling too, Dougy isn’t quite ready to say he’s the Robert Pattinson of indie-rock.

“I doubt very highly that it’s the kind of attention that he’s getting, but you know, some attention is better than no attention I guess,” he laughed.