“Life always finds way of throwing a curve ball at you.” Coming from Jonnine Standish, lead singer of Australian duo HTRK, it’s an understatement. The band have experienced more up and downs in the past two years than most bands can expect in a lifetime; tragedy struck in March 2010 when original band member Sean Stewart took his own life. Standish and fellow band member Nigel Yang completed the recording of their third studio album Work (Work, Work) as a duo, in recording sessions that turned out to be a grieving process as well as a creative one.

The album, which was two-thirds completed while Sean was still alive, served as the ultimate sonic monument to Sean’s memory.  A dark, dense, richly textured set, it requires months, rather than days or weeks, to wrap your head around. It is a dense, burdened, at times painful, but always beautiful odyssey through post-punk, industrial and dub experiments. The album received a mixed, almost confused critical response – many writers seemingly didn’t know how to approach it – but HTRK have been quietly championed by the likes of UK techno stalwart Regis and revered leftfield producer Actress among many others.

Since releasing Work (Work, Work) last year, the band have left their temporary home in East London and returned to their native Australia (Nigel in Sydney, Jonnine in Melbourne), where they have commenced work on their next, as yet unnamed album. As Aaron Coultate found out, it’s been a time of new beginnings for the pair, with the spectre of hope looming over plans for album number four.

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