Presenting their first piece of work since the loss of their bassist Sean Stewart in early 2010, HTRK have finally released their second full-length album Work (work, work). The band’s first album Marry Me Tonight was dissonant with an unwavering strength, however like the climax clambering upward in a macabre horror film soundtrack, Work (work, work) is far more sinister then what they’ve done before. HTRK have created a piece of art that is dark and disorienting; dense velvet curtains used to hide any signs of light, while cigarette smoke clouds the air and your head.
Slo Glo slides a long a dark corridor, dirty jerks of piercing sound bouncing off the mirrors that line the walls. First single Eat Yr Heart is distressed and heavy, dark baselines like an augmented heartbeat, while Skinny is a hazy dream sequence; Jonnine Standish’s ghostly vocals float along while shocks of dark drums jaunt through the dark. Bendin’creates a delicate balance between cloudy keyboard resonances and an array of stabbing synthesized knives, slicing their way through the sheer veil of sound.
Work (work, work) can feel like a taxing listen; its dismal demeanour often getting overwhelming. However this is what continually draws its prey in. There is a familiarity with its dark hedges that keep you coming back for more, fighting against all the cobwebs that try so hard to hold you at a distance.
Work that body is a panic attack waiting to break its way through. The song possesses an almost-silent restraint, something holding it back but lingering close is an explosion of anxiety, slowly building but never eventuating. Each sound circulates around each other, trying to avoid touching. Driven by undercurrents of desperation, Body Double is sombre and regimented, trying to force more time to pass between now and the past, “It’s just business, baby” Standish drawls out between heavy breaths.
This new album may occupy the overt sexuality of a Berlin brothel, but Work (work, work) is laced with heartbreaking and distressing emotion.
BY ALEXANDRA DUGUID
