HTRK – At Cafe Oto [CS]

"One off tape edition recording of HTRK's intimate and ethereal Cafe Oto show from last year, an hour and one minute of heartbreakingly candid versions of songs from each of their albums (plus one loosie) - capturing one of the very best to ever do it in especially tight, low-lit form. Tears will be shed, be warned.

They open almost at the very beginning with 'HA', the opening track from their debut proper 'Marry Me Tonight', and its booming post-punk tone is remodelled almost completely. The tight drum machine is stripped to a skeletal pulse, while the dubby bass has been reined in to lap at Jonnine’s eternal vocals. "Can we get back together?" she asks, while Nigel Yang carves amp feedback into tempered noise. 'Give it Up' is more straightforward but no less pulverising, its narcoleptic creep distended, tweezing out the groggy synths around Standish's swooning murmurs. 

Aye they have us by a thread for the duration, especially in the gorgeous, if all too fleeting, rendition of ‘Kiss Kiss and Rhinestones’ (“this one’s for all the gays”) and in their mastery of the power of near-silence in the slowed waltz of ‘Chinatown Style’ dubbed out to a very satisfying near 8 mins long. Factor in a lip-bitingly smouldering ‘Rent Boy’ from their fateful ‘Marry Me’ LP, some of the best rimshots in the game on their contemporary classic ‘Reverse Deja Vu’, and all the shivers given in ’Skinny’ and ‘Poison’ at the tail end, and you’ll need to find yourself a soft place to cushion your swoooon."

N&J Blueberries, 2025