This self-titled album from The Temper Trap is their second and it isn't one that creeps up on you slowly. Rather, the opening track Need Your Love smacks you in the face with a high-energy celebration of synth and an introduction to what the listener may expect to be something similar to their debut Conditions. This song is followed up with the proverbial spanner in the works with London's Burning, a political reference to last year's riots in London.

This album has the potential to cause confusion for the listener. Firstly, themes of disenfranchisement and an attempt to make an alternative record contrast with an album clearly aimed at the masses and chart success. Secondly, the album starts with fast tempo, upbeat tunes but slows down towards the end, where lyrics of loneliness and isolation become dominant, such as those in Trembling Hands and This Isn't Happiness. Musically however, there are some definite strong points, including the aforementioned Trembling Hands and the poignant Rabbit Hole.

Dougy Mandagi, the lead singer and writer of all of the songs on The Temper Trap, has a voice that is very recognisable with a solid grain in the lower registers and a flawless falsetto. Listeners however, may find themselves lamenting an era when two-syllable words weren't elongated beyond recognition with “ahhs”, “ehhs” and “oohs”.

The argument that it is a positive thing to not simply clone a debut album exists but there lies a thin line between positive discovery and sabotage in the face of commercialism.