Frente!

Formed in Melbourne, Australia in 1989, Frente! was an alternative folk rock outfit led by guitarist Simon Austin and vocalist Angie Hart. While their original music was well-received, they are best-known outside of Australia for their cover of New Order’s “Bizarre Love Triangle”, which originally appeared on the Labour of Love EP. The original line-up of the band released their first EP, Whirled, in 1991. The EP featured eight tracks including “Labour of Love”, which became one of their most well-known originals. They followed that release with the Clunk EP in 1992, which included the hit single “Ordinary Angels”. Their debut full-length release, Marvin the Album, was issued at the end of 1992 in Australia. The album included the “Accidently Kelly Street” single, which reached Number 4 on the Australian charts. In 1993, Frente! released the Labour of Love EP, which included the title track and their acoustic reworking of New Order’s “Bizarre Love Triangle”. Frente! won two ARIA Music Awards that year for Breakthrough Artist – Album and Breakthrough Artist – Single (“Ordinary Angels”). In 1994, a reworked version of Marvin the Album was released in the U.S. and Europe alongside the Labour of Love EP. “Bizarre Love Triangle” became a surprise hit in the U.S. and UK. In 1995, the band began recording their next album with a variety of producers including Ted Niceley, David M. Allen, and Cameron McVey. Their sophomore album, Shape, was released in 1996. It featured the singles “Sit On My Hands” and “What’s Come Over Me”. The album’s musical direction incorporated electronic elements, which was a move in a more atmospheric direction. They spent the next 3 months touring the world and promoting the album. The band split up in 1997. Austin and Hart reformed Frente! in 2004 for some acoustic shows, which lead to Try To Think Less, a new EP in 2005 on Pop Boomerang Records. Since then, Austin and Hart have revived Frente! for a handful of live shows but no further studio tracks have been released.