More about: Tempesst

It's been a hectic last decade for Tempesst. From packing up and leaving their diverse, sunny Sunshine Coast of Australia to settling in East London’s (slightly less sunny) equally multicultural region of Hackney, the band have become a centrepiece at the heart of inner London’s creative arts community.

Yet, the postponement of touring their debut album Must Be A Dream back in 2020 amid the centre of a global pandemic raised questions as to whether their UK move was a risk worth taking. But Tempesst have made it work, and their eagerly anticipated return offers a very different perspective of modernity and how we should love. 

The band’s second studio record, Prisoner of Desire, has all the poetic lyricism, sliding guitars and vintage jazz influences of both a 1960s New York bar or a country western film scene - just in a psychedelic infused rock kinda way. Thankfully, this time with an album tour to succeed it, the sophomore album by the Aussie-bred five piece (released via the band’s self-constructed label Pony Recordings) is an unorthodox depiction of love through the eyes of someone accustomed to the complexities of a modern relationship. In his own Alex Turner meets Nick Cave elegance, singer Toma Banjanin guides listeners down the narrative of a character deep in love, however grappling with the reality of having surrendered self identification in a post-pandemic world that, at times, seems to have forgotten how to love. 

Backed by the orchestral-like ensemble of Andy Banjanin on drums, Eric Weber on guitars, Kane Reynolds on keys, and Blake Misipeka on bass, Toma’s undulating vocals right from the off makes Prisoner of Desire effortlessly enthralling to become absorbed within. Nostalgically Beatles-esque in its sophistication and gothically melancholy in its melody, the record’s opener is the title track and kickstarts the album with a narrative that is maintained all the way to the record’s final instalment, ‘The Other Life’. ‘Prisoner of Desire’ feels like a fitting place to begin. The song’s trajectory attempts to depict a more realistic representation of love to one that acknowledges the often “demanding, complex and beautiful” obstacles to a present-day relationship, Toma described. “Above all, we want the album to start an honest conversation about what love actually is”. 

Whether sonically tongue in cheek or lyrically overjoyed, Prisoner of Desire is a poetic showpiece. From the record’s second single, ‘True Love’s in Decline’, discussing the often fast-paced shallowness of a dating app interaction - “won’t find one in a million ‘til you try all eight billion” - to the genuine celebratory high of ‘Sunset at Maria’s Pt II’ - “I’m not one for a throwaway line but tonight I love you and I mean it” - Toma has us emotionally invested in the band’s fluctuating portrayal of attachment. But just as things look up, Tempesst stay grounded when it comes to the album’s last song by inevitably closing their story with the character left to ponder nothing but memories of what “we used to call home”.

Perhaps the narrative of a hopeless romantic, or maybe a reality check of a very real representation of someone trapped in the cycle of what a modern day love affair is beginning to look like? 

Tempesst’s second studio album Prisoner of Desire arrives March 3rd.

Grab your copy of the Gigwise print magazine here.

More about: Tempesst