Visionary electronica duo HTRK, aka Jonnine Standish and Nigel Yang, bring their live show to Perth off the back of their latest LP, Venus in Leo.

In this rare live performance – and first Perth show in over five years – audiences will step into The Rechabite’s newly refurbished grand hall and immerse themselves in HTRK’s sound universe, where the cavernous reverberations of dub techno are mixed with frosted post-punk motifs and the gravelly imperfections of industrial.

Throw together the core influences of HTRK and you’ll find David Lynch’s unsettling surrealism next to Bill Henson’s industrial landscapes, with Mika Vainio’s minimal compositions alongside the malfunctioning synth-pop of Suicide.

Formed in 2003 by Nigel Yang and Sean Stewart in Melbourne’s inner north, the band soon welcomed vocalist Jonnine Standish into the fold, before self-releasing their debut EP, Nostalgia, in 2005. From the off their sound was raw and visceral, with distorted guitar pedals caking Standish’s vocals in sonic grit.

The band followed up Nostalgia with 2009’s Marry Me Tonight, an LP co-produced by Rowland S. Howard, founding member of The Birthday Party and a towering figure in the Australian music scene.

Their latest release comes five years after 2014’s esteemed Psychic 9-5 Club, a collection that presented a more tender and polished version of HTRK than previously seen. The flesh stripped from their sound, the focus placed on naked arrangements and minimalist sound design.

HTRK re-emerged in 2018 with a set of singles exploring themes of power, mind games and intimacy in the social media age. While not revealed at the time, these were the first suggestions of Venus in Leo, the fourth full-length and a spirited new chapter for the band.