I Heart Hiroshima

After nearly a year off the racket... Matt, Susie and Cameron reaffirmed the lost to stoke the fires outside and performed some much missed live shows amid the abandon and glare. Along with their sell-out show at Woodlands in Brisbane, the punchy Last Night endeavour at the Gaelic in Sydney, and a very healthy flock at Melbourne's NSC given it was the same night as Laneway... they played a series of shows with UK post-punk constructionists GANG OF FOUR concluding the voyage of the Andy Gill produced album The Rip.

Off the back of this convergence a recording of "Washed Up" has floated to the surface... available now online. In the dark corners, there grows something unknown... quiver.

Previous album THE RIP still available in a variety of portals including the European pressed vinyl edition. As well as being available for retail download from iTunes... the track is also downloadable for free from the new BANDCAMP site.

www.ihearthiroshima.com

ihearthiroshima.bandcamp.com

GANG OF FOUR FRI 25 FEB THE HIFI Brisbane: I Heart Hiroshima's recent flood benefit concert displayed them at their most ramshackle, but tonight they're as polished and tight as they ever were, knocking killer renditions of singles Shakeytown and River. They close with their famous cover of New Zealand band The Chills' Pink Frost, aptly dedicating it to the victims of Christchurch's earthquake. (RAVE MAG Chad Parkhill)

GANG OF FOUR WED 2 MAR THE CORNER: Brisbane band I Heart Hiroshima faced the challenge of following this burst of energy with their spindly, stripped-bare approach to songwriting. The fact that they managed to pull it off with great aplomb highlights the real strengths of this three-piece. With two guitars, drums, and a mixture of male and female voices in just about every song, IHH exhibited a decidedly skewed approach to constructing songs. Drummer Susie Patten was the focal point of the group, both visually and in her idiosyncratic playing style, which occasionally conjured memories of a young Rob Hirst. Meanwhile, the absence of bass actually helped to foreground the intricacies of the interweaving guitar lines. The lesson these guys have taken away from post-punk is a refusal to rock in the conventional sense, instead constructing dynamics beyond the strict four-four tempo and reliance on hooks of most pop music. A muscular interpretation of The Chills' kiwi cult classic 'Pink Frost' almost bettered the original. In the hands of IHH, the mopey, fungal amorphousness of the original suddenly grew feral and snarling, without losing any of its spine-tingling spookiness. (THE VINE Rene Schaefer)

GANG OF FOUR TUES 1 MAR GAELIC CLUB: But first there were two superb support sets that rewarded the punctual punter. Chinese trio Rebuilding the Rights of Statues played a confident selection that clearly owed a musical debt to the headliners (right up to the sorta cute/somewhat gauche cover of 'Damaged Goods', foreshadowing the headliner's finale), while I Heart Hiroshima made a very welcome return with a set of favourites including 'Shakeytown', 'Teef' and 'Punks', plus a cover of the Chills' magnificent 'Pink Frost' in tribute to the folks of Christchurch. Having Gang of Four's stuff set up behind them forced them to spread across the front of the stage, which worked strongly to their advantage given that the focus of the band remains the spirited drumming of Susie Patten. (TIME OUT Sydney, Andrew P Street)