Review
More than two decades into their career, HTRK’s brooding architecture proves remarkably sturdy when handed over to contemporaries. On String of Hearts (Songs of HTRK), the Australian duo’s intersection of noise rock and downtempo pop is dismantled by a curated cast of experimentalists. The result is what The Guardian calls a "genre-agnostic record" that traces the band's influence without relying on nostalgia.
Rather than simply paying homage, contributors actively warp the source material. AllMusic notes how Zebrablood transforms "Soul Sleep" into a "lush sound bath filled with mist-like synths and ambient jungle breakbeats", while Loraine James disrupts the original pacing with "glitchy IDM-industrial beats". These reinterpretations stretch the original grooves into strange new shapes; familiar focal points, like Jonnine Standish’s detached delivery, are completely upended into what critics describe as "desperate alien wails".
Even when tracks are rendered nearly unrecognizable, the core of HTRK's "gloomy, sensual brand of music" remains intact. Whether expanding into sweeping ambient compositions or fractured electronic collisions, the release confirms the absolute malleability of their catalog.
