It’s been a decade since Rowland S. Howard’s last release, but new single ‘Pop Crimes’ – bookended by a steamy duet with HTRK’s Jonnine Standish – is well worth the wait, writes RENÉ SCHAEFER.

To say I was excited when this slab of thick, thick vinyl arrived in my mailbox this morning would be the understatement of the decade. It’s been 10 years exactly since we’ve had new recorded material from Rowland S. Howard, one of the Australian underground’s most revered and respected musicians, and more than three decades since he first graced a stage with The Obsessions and Young Charlatans.

In that time he has established himself as a true original, remaining faithful to a bleak romanticism, undercut by the violence of his slashing, reverb-heavy electric guitar. His world view is represented in his songs that tread the fine line between jaded nihilism and wide-eyed wonder at the marvel of human existence.

Howard’s only solo album Teenage Snuff Film stands as one of those monoliths of pop culture that has transcended its time and place to become a true classic in the eyes of fans and critics alike. We may never hear its praises sung in any newspaper or radio top 10 polls, but that is really is how it should be – this stuff is to rarefied, too goddamn precious, for mass consumption.

I first heard ‘Pop Crimes’ when Howard performed it at last year’s All Tomorrow’s Parties festival, where he nervously introduced it as a new song from his forthcoming album. Backed by long-term collaborator Mick Harvey on drums and JP Shiloh (Hungry Ghosts) on bass, the maestro lays down a filthy, sexy groove of a song, that sounds so vital and urgent, it leaves many younger whippersnappers in the dust. While Shiloh’s hip-thrusting bass pulses away, Howard pulls out all the stops on his guitar, from twangy single note surf riffs to effects-drenched feedback explosions that hark back to his work in The Birthday Party.

The lyrical theme of ‘Pop Crimes’ is one of separation, spite and world-weary resignation, some of the mainstays of Howard’s canon. This contrasts sharply with the b-side, ‘(I Know) A Girl Called Jonny’, which sees the older musician duet with Jonnine Standish of Australian ex-pats HTRK. Inspired to some degree by The Waterboys’ 1983 song ‘A Girl Called Johnny’, Howard and Standish are caught in a game of lust and seduction, trading intimacies and singing each other’s praises.

“She’s my narcotic lullaby,” purrs Howard, while Standish breathes a sensuality into the line, “I put my fingers in his mouth”, that verges on the pornographic. The Phil Spector drum beat and slow-dance melody make the song even creepier, recalling the father/daughter duets of Serge and Charlotte Gainsbourg’s ‘Lemon Incest’ or Frank and Nancy Sinatra’s ‘Something Stupid’. Luckily these two aren’t related on more than a musical level.

The call-and-response style works an absolute treat here and I found myself hanging onto every line, many of which exhibit Rowland S. Howard’s trademark dry wit and love of word play. There are even allusions to the gender-transcending nature of fan-love for their idols. Howard’s assertion, “I know a girl called Jonny/She’s changing all the girls into boys”, is turned around into, “He’s changing all boys into girls”, by Standish.

“I'm the Jon Of Arc of teenage lust,” Jonny asserts, while Howard can’t suppress a smirk as he counters, “Pashing with the devil at the bus stop.” No duet has sounded this steamy since ‘Je T’Aime (Moi Non Plus)’. It’s enough to send shivers down your spine.

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Pop Crimes/(I Know) A Girl Called Jonny is out August 24 on The Passport Label.