Thick as Thieves is the third studio album by Australian indie-alternative rock band The Temper Trap. It was produced by Rich Cooper and Damian Taylor. The album was released on 10 June 2016, by Liberation Music in Australia, by Infectious Records in the United Kingdom, and by Glassnote Records in the United States, and is the first to be co-written by the band with outside personnel. Thick as Thieves also marks the first album by the band without guitarist and founding member Lorenzo Sillitto, after his departure in late 2013.
Serving as a follow-up to their experimental, self-titled second studio album, Thick as Thieves reverts to a guitar-oriented sound reminiscent of their debut album, with lyrics inspired by various experiences by members of the band. Recording and production started in early 2013 at Byron Bay. The band changed their traditional method of song writing for Thick as Thieves, moving from development of ideas utilising jam sessions, to a streamlined process using various ideas by band members. Stumped by the departure of Sillitto, and fluctuating frequently between recording and touring, however, development spanned three years, mostly recorded with Taylor and engineer Russel Fawcus at the band's private studios in London in late 2014 and early 2015. Initially, finishing touches were recorded at Taylor's Golden Ratio Studios in Montreal in April 2015, but after numerous delays, even after initially tracking the album in April 2015, recording on the album was eventually completed in October 2015.
With its release formally announced in April 2016, the album was preceded by the appearances of title track "Thick as Thieves", and fifth track "Fall Together" on singles, in February and April 2016, respectively. Further promotion included a low-key headlining tour and an extensive festival tour in mid-2016 of Asia, Australia, Europe and the United States, and later an extensive tour of North America in late 2016. Upon release, Thick as Thieves was met with lukewarm positive reviews, though an improvement on the reception of the band's previous album. Critics mostly agreed on the quality of the album's sound and production, with a volume of praise being directed at lead singer Dougy Mandagi's vocals, but were otherwise divided on the album's lyricism and the lack of deviation from the band's previous material. In addition, Thick as Thieves topped the ARIA Albums Chart in the week of its release – the band's second album to do so.
Background
After enjoying commercial and critical success with their debut album, Conditions, The Temper Trap released their eponymous second studio album, The Temper Trap, in May 2012. Produced with Tony Hoffer, and described as an album upon which the band expressed "willingness to experiment", it was a departure from the traditional rock sound of their debut, opting instead for an emphasis on electronically-oriented sounds contrasting greatly from the internationally successful hits of their previous album, "Sweet Disposition" and "Fader". The band achieved greater commercial success with the release of the album, peaking at no.1 on the Australian Recording Industry Association album chart in the week its release, surpassing the no.9 peak of Conditions. Within a year, the album went on to be certified Platinum by ARIA, with lead single track "Trembling Hands" also being certified Platinum, Despite these successes, however, overall sales of the album failed to match Conditions.
In addition to the short-lived success of the album, The Temper Trap itself was not received well by music critics, whom mostly gave the album a mixed response. Criticism was mostly aimed at the deviation from the precedent set by Conditions, with reviewers reaching a consensus that this ultimately had a negative impact on the music. For their third studio album, the band felt compelled to return to their traditional roots, after reviewing the response to The Temper Trap. The move was not an acceptance of critics' opinions on The Temper Trap, with lead singer Dougy Mandagi claiming that he was "glad" the band recorded the album. Rather, the move was made in pursuit of matching the success of Conditions, including the popularity of "Sweet Disposition" in particular. Guitarist Joseph Greer described the song as "the catalyst to everything", as it became the standard to which the band began to aim at with their third studio album. Bassist Jonathon Aherne described the feelings of the band, heading into recording their third studio album, as being "under pressure", a sentiment felt by all members of the band. Aherne was optimistic, however, stating, "as we've discerned and had feedback from album two, and reviewed our strengths from album one, there's a pretty clear vision of what we want to do."
Composition and themes
The band retreated to a "less synth and more guitar based" sound than their previous album, reminiscent of, and effectively reverting to, their debut album, Conditions. Marking a return to "passionate and positive themes of hope", the album was described by drummer Toby Dundas as "filled with hope, raw energy, and a passion that brought us back to the early days", and that the music possessed "grit and attitude". He also stated that the album's lengthy production had aided in the writing and recording of the songs, saying that the band "had the time and space to develop tracks in a way which allowed them to take on a new life during the process." Lead vocalist Dougy Mandagi additionally described the tracks on the album as "more upbeat, up-tempo songs compared to the last record [and] faster songs with a few sombre moments here and there." Additionally, Thick as Thieves is also the first time the band had invited songwriting personnel outside of the band to work on the album, which included producer Pascal Gabriel, who co-wrote most of the songs with the band, and Justin Parker, who co-wrote "Fall Together" with Mandagi. "Burn" and "Tombstone" are the only songs on the record that were solely written by the band.
The album's opening track, "Thick as Thieves", penned by the band with Gabriel, was described by Emmy Mack of Music Feeds as a track that "thumps along" with a "tribal-style tom beat, wild west guitar arpeggios, [and] an Electric Light Orchestra-style bassline". Mandagi, who himself described the track as a "jangly guitar song", stated that he had the idea for the song's guitar riff for years, long before he had sat down with guitarist Joseph Greer and "worked it out in his old flat one day." Lyrically, the album was motivated by various experiences in each of the band members' personal lives. One such example is in the album's second track, "So Much Sky", inspired by bassist Jonathon Aherne and Mandagi's trip to Tanzania, meeting with the Massai tribe as part of an initiative with Faces4Hope, a Christian charity organization supporting villages and tribes in East Africa, with whom the band were involved with. The band had written the song mostly in the image of the Massai, their village, and the view of the nearby Mount Kilimanjaro. Mandagi explained, "being out in the open plains and waking up in the morning and seeing Mount Kilimanjaro popping up just above the clouds. It was a really inspirational experience and we got a song out of it." The third track on the album, "Burn", penned by the band with Parker, was noted by Dundas as one of the band's favorites on the record. Written early on in the recording sessions, "Burn" was built from two different compositions which were, according to Dundas, "gradually morphed together as one as we were recording." Kim Taylor Bennett of Noisey compared the track to "U2's sky-scraping bombast with a bass drum thwack and crash reminiscent of "Be My Baby" by The Ronettes." Mandagi touts "Alive", the sixth track on Thick as Thieves, as the band's "sexiest number for sure", with "all swagger and menacing bass lines." The song was further described by Laurence Day of The Line of Best Fit as one with a "quivering bassline and sharp, punchy beats, and a to-the-rafters chorus erupts to relieve the tension."
A song featured as the closing track on the deluxe edition of Thick as Thieves, "Closer", was written about Andrew Chan. Chan, along with Myuran Sukumaran, were charged and sentenced to death in 2005 for leading a heroin-smuggling operation in Indonesia, and made headline news in Australia after the newly-elected President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, ordered their execution in early 2015 after an unusually prolonged period on death row, despite multiple calls for clemency internationally. Mandagi himself was a friend of Chan, corroborating with many who talked of Chan's positive attitude and personality. Mandagi spoke of Chan, "he brought a lot of change to a place that was rotting. It brought life into a third world prison, basically, he gave hope to a lot of people."
Recording and production Recording for the band's third studio album started relatively early, in February and March 2013, when the band spent a week-and-a-half with producer Malay. Lead vocalist Dougy Mandagi had met Malay during his stay in Los Angeles, and the two had a mutual admiration and respect for each other's work. Mandagi had been writing new ideas for songs during his stay in Los Angeles, while the rest of the band were at home in London, doing the same. While previously, the band made use of jam sessions to create new songs, the band opted instead to take different approaches to writing songs, such as combining various ideas, conceived by different members of the band, into single tracks. The band met up and held their first sessions at the La Casa Artist Residency, a recording studio situated in Byron Bay, New South Wales, and owned by American filmmaker Taylor Steele. Contrasting from a traditional recording studio, the residency was originally set up by Steele as a retreat for artists to spend time, between a few days to a few weeks, to "find inspiration and make art, with Byron Bay as their muse." The band spent a few weeks, over the course of two visits, at La Casa with Malay. The band amassed over thirty ideas for songs during the sessions, with "Lost" and "Summer's Almost Gone" being two of the earliest written and recorded tracks to eventually appear on the final album. According to drummer Toby Dundas, the band's experience with Malay opened them up to the idea of collaborating with other songwriters, an idea the band had previously rejected. Dunas explained, "if it had gone badly it might have left a bad taste in our mouths. But he bought something interesting to the table. We thought 'Look what happens when we work with people who bring their flavour to what we're doing' so we kept exploring that."