HTRK – Venus in Leo (Ghostly International)

HTRK’s masterful new album for Ghostly International is a seemingly subdued work that is violent in its quiet, loud in its intimacy

The beautifully corroded industrial howl of HTRK’s debut, Nostalgia, got to me back in 2007 and it never did let go. Pushed-to-endurance Lynchian walls of drone (Fire Walk With Me is after all cited as a reference), lo-fi dynamics that feel like The Birthday Party birthed out of Throbbing Gristle and an interiority that threatens to engulf the unwary listener – this is the world I keep returning to. The sonics have shifted over the years and across subsequent records (it is difficult to imagine the impact that the death of founding member Sean Stewart had on the band), and their sound may have become less abrasive, but Jonnine Standish and Nigel Yang continue to penetrate consciousness and inspire devotion with HTRK.

Venus in Leo is one of the standout albums of the year so far, a seemingly subdued work that is violent in its quiet, loud in its intimacy. The sonic palette is restrained, allowing Standish to climb inside the dream and report back from the interior. Lone guitar lines shimmer and float away into the night as subtle electronics hint at a vastness that cannot be navigated. Each piece exudes a very human warmth, demonstrates a closeness to rather than avoidance of truth.

The opening embrace of “Into the Drama” encourages descent into the detailed but dreamlike urban realities of Venus in Leo. “Mentions” is detuned pop music that crawls along the ledge of sparseness. Its particular brand of hard-to-achieve minimalism is rich and evocative. “How you gonna feel unfeelable” asks Standish across the vanishing guitar ley lines. Her words are unforced, unique. “Even with your soft obsession / It’s not enough attention for me” – the phrase “soft obsession” delightfully evoking the song’s mercurial depths. Yang’s guitar on the title track hangs in the air for moments, like Sonic Youth dialled down into meditation. Here Standish makes a somnambulant journey into the collective unconscious, the spaces within the delicate tapestry of voice and sound providing glimpses of other lives lived.

A photograph of Standish’s childhood home (with the duo as insubstantial apparitions sitting in the driveway) adorns the album cover and “Dream Symbol” recasts Stone Tape theory as Proustian drive. A twilight dismantling of Missy Elliott’s “Hit ‘Em Wit Da Hee” is as natural as it is unexpected and “Dying of Jealousy” melts with gorgeous Massive Attack beats. A reverse-sequenced New Year themed pairing closes the album. “New Year’s Day” is heightened experience – there is more sound around the edges and Standish even draws upon a third person narrative to counter her own – which opens up the gate for the majestic “New Year’s Eve”, an end of the night, heart on bloodied sleeve classic in the making. It’s a Balaeric dancefloor moment, the sort of ending that is fired up with a multitude of beginnings. “Is this the last song / Is this the last dance” – words that hang in the air, just out of reach, but to be reached for.

HTRK continue to follow their own inimitable path and Venus in Leo is a masterful realisation of where they are going. Studied without being dry and emotionally explorative without any sign of histrionics. Their command of restraint, mining of quiet and blossoming of sonic subtleties brings to mind Low, although the final products couldn’t be more different; fellow travellers running in parallel worlds then. Regardless, Venus in Leo has got to me as Nostalgia did back when and neither will be letting go.

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