The sumptuously dark and brooding rock of Howling Bells wasn’t destined to bloom on Sydney’s sunny beaches. For Juanita Stein, her brother Joel and their gothically inspired bandmates, the London fog exerted a magnetic attraction. In the wake of their 2006 debut, the embrace of UK tastemakers and the European festival circuit beckoned. With the air of a slightly more crushed and fragile PJ Harvey, Juanita’s simmering vocal approach and her band’s filmic atmospheres would eventually draw them into the orbit of classic UK indie guru Alan Moulder and Killers’ producer, Mark Stoermer. Meanwhile, Howling Bells’ resume of coveted tour supports — Coldplay, Placebo, Snow Patrol, Mercury Rev — speaks of an act immersed in millennial cool.
