Howling Bells

While you might not always enjoy the music of Chris Martin and Gary Lightbody, their taste in music seems fairly impeccable. Both men have sung the praises of Australian indie rockers Howling Bells of late, and if you’ve ever listened to the band’s music it’s little wonder they are loved by the princes of the UK music scene. Based around brother and sister Juanita (vocals) and Joel (guitar) Stein, the Sydney four-piece’s self-titled debut was a tasty slice of country goth, with a hefty dollop of dark rock clearly influenced by fellow countryman Nick Cave, and also by the hazy and fuzzy medicated musings of Mazzy Star, and they followed that up with middling Radio Wars before returning to a bit of form with this year’s Heartstrings album. Highlights of any Howling Bells show will be their three best known songs; ‘The Bell Hit’ is a moody and mean guitar stomp, ‘Low Happening’ recalls PJ Harvey in its darkness and traditional encore ‘Broken Bones’ is a seesawing track that lets Juanita Stein open up those lethal pipes of her and truly let go of everything. It will be interesting to see how the Heartstrings tracks fit with the older songs, but it should be fascinating viewing once it happens.