HTRK

HTRK are a band whose work has been constantly marked by tragedy. Their first two albums bore the influence of deceased friends and collaborators, and are a document of the departed's impact on the band.

The passing of founding member Sean Stewart is a crucial chapter in the story of HTRK. The bassist took his own life prior to the production of their 2011 album Work (work, work). The group's remaining members, Nigel Yang and Jonnine Standish, were still coming to grips with Stewart's passing when the album was released. The posthumous use of Stewart's basslines gave Work its eerie aesthetic. It also presented HTRK as disaffected and withdrawn figures.

Rowland S. HowardRowland S. Howard
Lesser known was the passing of HTRK's friend and inspiration Rowland S. Howard barely six months after the release of their first album. The iconic guitarist for The Birthday Party recorded with HTRK on their debut album, Marry Me Tonight, in 2006 before succumbing to cirrhosis of the liver after the album was finally released in 2009. Up until this point, HTRK has drawn comparisons to groups as disparate as Suicide, The Jesus And Mary Chain and Godflesh. The critics were right, to a point: the HTRK catalogue channels the same violent, fearful and apathetic virtues of these acts. But such comparisons overlooked the more immediate, Australian influence and impact of Howard.

The collaboration between HTRK and Howard represented a passing of the torch from one generation of Australian independent music to another. It says a lot about HTRK that Howard sought to work with the band on Marry, leaving his unique mark on its arrangement through under-produced instrumentation. And in HTRK's songwriting one could sense Howard's same forlorn, narcissistic take on love.

The mutual admiration between HTRK and Howard has been well documented over the years. In a Quietus interview last year, Yang spoke of how he was inspired by Howard's "fallibility, his ferocity. His phrasing and timing… His lyrical imagery and imagination."

HTRK's close professional and social relationship with Howard has made them crucial figures in strengthening his legacy among younger Australian and global audiences. The pair recently flew to London to perform at the UK premiere of the biographical documentary Autoluminescent: Rowland S. Howard.

"You know Karl O'Connor was one of Rowland's biggest fans?" I ask. Yang and Standish didn't know, but they're interested. I read them a passage written by O'Connor in a 2013 FACT article:

"Rowland S. Howard quite simply is beyond comparison. His guitar playing could penetrate the soul in a way that no one else's could…No man has ever looked as good, or ever will look as good, playing a Fender Jag."

I sense a contemplative silence on the other end of the call. "You know what?" says Yang, completely deadpan. "I always wonder why people don't write that sort of stuff about my guitar playing." And with one irreverent joke he embodies all the egotistical and playful tendencies of HTRK's music. You can hear this sardonic humour in their latest album, Psychic 9-5 Club, released last week on Ghostly International.