Tempers are an American

indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media *Independent media, media free of influence by government or corporate interests *Indie art, fine arts made by artists independent of commer ...

darkwave Dark wave, or darkwave, is a music genre that emerged from the new wave and post-punk movement of the late 1970s. Dark wave compositions are largely based on minor key tonality and introspective lyrics and have been perceived as being dark, ro ...

and

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s ...

duo from

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. The band formed in 2013 and consists of singer and songwriter Jasmine Golestaneh and Eddie Cooper. The duo started writing and recording music together in 2013, and have released 4 studio albums.

Career

2013-2015: Formation and initial success

Jasmine Golestaneh is of Latvian-Iranian descent and was born in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, United States. Golestaneh grew up in Europe before moving to

. Eddie Cooper is originally from New York City, and prior to the duo's collaboration had lived and worked in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. Cooper released music on

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductors * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic c ...

record labels including

!K7 !K7 Music is a music company based in Berlin, Germany that focuses mostly on electronic music. The name is an abbreviation of the company's original Berlin address, Kaiserdamm 7 (it has since relocated, first to Heidestrasse 52, and currently hea ...

and

Eskimo ''Eskimo'' () is a controversial Endonym and exonym, exonym that refers to two closely related Indigenous peoples: Inuit (including the Alaska Native Iñupiat, the Canadian Inuit, and the Greenlandic Inuit) and the Yupik peoples, Yupik (or Sibe ...

. The duo began recording music together in 2013. They released the single "Strange Harvest" in 2013 on the Pendu Sound record label. Ian Cohen of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'' described Tempers as having a

coldwave Industrial metal is the fusion of heavy metal and industrial music, typically employing repeating metal guitar riffs, sampling, synthesizer or sequencer lines, and distorted vocals. Prominent industrial metal acts include Ministry, Nine ...

sound, and wrote " ..within its four minutes, the slow burn of "Strange Harvest" reaches a point of self-immolution". Tempers first full-length studio album, ''Services'', was released in 2015 on the German record label ''aufnahme + wiedergabe''. "Strange Harvest" was included as a single for ''Services''. The album was popular in Europe, and gained the duo a European and UK following. When recording, they used the

Moog Opus 3 The Opus 3 is an analog 49-key synthesizer, and designed by Herbert A. Deutsch from Hofstra University. He also wrote the manual for the synthesizer. It was released in 1980 by Moog. The sounds are in three categories, strings, brass and organ ...

on tracks like "Summer is Gone" and the acoustic version of "Strange Harvest". In 2016, they played at the Volcano Extravaganza festival on the island of

Stromboli Stromboli ( , ; ) is an island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the north coast of Sicily, containing Mount Stromboli, one of the four active volcanoes in Italy. It is one of the seven Aeolian Islands, a volcanic arc north of Sicily, and the mytho ...

. The duo released a five-track EP ''Fundamental Fantasy'', on the British record label

The Vinyl Factory The Vinyl Factory is a music company based in London. It includes a record label, vinyl pressing plant, and a venue space. It also publishes ''Fact'' magazine and owns Phonica Records store. Overview The Vinyl Factory began as a pressing plan ...

, on 24 February 2017. The duo recorded much of ''Fundamental Fantasy'' through improvisation, and Cooper said in an interview for '' Wonderland Magazine'' that "a lot of the melodies and chord progressions came out of live improvisation, so the songs already had their colours and characters defined before we even got into the arrangement and production". "Further" was released as the lead single for the EP and in a review by David Graver for ''Cool Hunting'' it was described as "thoughtful" and "complex songwriting". In 2017, Tempers played at

SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

and toured Europe in the summer.

2018-2019: Breakthrough with ''Private Life''

In 2018, Tempers released the concept album ''Junkspace'', featuring Dutch

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Rem Koolhaas Remment Lucas Koolhaas (; born 17 November 1944) is a Dutch architect, architectural theory, architectural theorist, urbanist and Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Graduate School of ...

which is set in a

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

. ''Junkspace'' used samples from interviews with Koolhass to comment on the architecture of

consumerism Consumerism is a socio-cultural and economic phenomenon that is typical of industrialized societies. It is characterized by the continuous acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing quantities. In contemporary consumer society, the ...

. Cooper and Golestaneh have said that the album was intended to critique shopping malls as manufactured places of "fantasy" that can psycholigically manipulate to spend money. Tempers were signed to the label Dais Records in 2019, and their second full-length studio album ''Private Life'' was released on October 25, 2019. They began writing the album in 2017. A review by Rich Wilhelm from ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...

'' is generally positive and Wilhelm writes that "the album should appeal both to old school and new school synthpop fans". Writing for '' Slug Magazine'', Bianca Velasquez gave a favourable review and said "listening to ''Private Life'' was a pleasant journey through a story of loneliness and despair".

2020-2022: ''New Meaning'' and growing popularity

Following the release of ''Private Life'', Tempers announced a UK and European tour in 2020. They began the tour with a headline show at London's Moth Club on 28 February 2020. In December 2020, Tempers re-released ''Services'' under Dais Records, making it available in the United States and internationally. Tempers' third full-length studio album ''New Meaning'' was released in 2022 on the record label Dais Records. The songs were written by Golestaneh and she has said she was influenced by the uncertainity of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Discography

Studio albums

References

{{reflist Male–female musical duos American pop music duos Musical duos from New York (state) 2013 establishments in New York (state)