Singersongwriter LOENE CARMENs spectacular fourth album It Walks Like Love, released December last year, will receive a belated Melbourne album launch on Sunday 21st February at the Toff In Town. Carmen will perform with her live band and co-conspirators, young punks Brock Fitzgerald and Sam Pearton from The Scare on guitar and drums respectively and right hand man, bass player Sam Worrad, from garage rockers Holy Soul.

It Walks Like Love was recorded with producer Burke Reid and features a duet with long time collaborator Mess Halls Jed Kurzel. Carmens father, legendary piano man Peter Head lent a distinctive hand, while the unmistakeable timbre of Tex Perkins underpins the dizzying epic Gauloises Blue. But it is Carmens spellbinding voice and remarkable lyrics that are the centrepiece of these honeyed outsider blues.

The creative evolution of Carmens sound is impressive, flirting with as many musical styles as collaborators that are drawn to work with her. Previous offerings include the psychedelic bedroom dub of 2002 debut Born Funky Born Free through 2004s spacious post-folk confessionals Slight Delay (which had Rolling Stone calling her a spectral temptress) and 2007s Rock N Roll Tears (a seductively scandalous, dirty, kick ass blues entertainera lo fi rock n roll/blues tour de force The Brag).

Ever-evolving live and recorded lineups have seen The Mess Hall, Mick Harvey, Warren Ellis, Jim White, Cathy Green (X) and old buddy from The Year My Voice Broke, Noah Taylor pass through the ranks. Defunct bands include Slow Hand, Automatic Cherry and White Trash Mamas. Her determinedly DIY trajectory has seen her tour Europe and the US, showcase at SxSW 2009 and open for a diverse array of artists including The Drones, Dirty Three, Magnolia Electric Company, Renee Geyer, Kill Devil Hills, Mick Harvey and Beasts of Bourbon. For Carmen, the songs are the boss and she has evolved a sound all of her own, that exists in its own time and creates its own world.

Doors 8.00pm.
www.loenecarmen.com www.myspace.com/loenecarmensrocknrolltears

The Toff kitchen is open from 5pm daily, serving dinner and supper until 3am weekdays and 5am on weekends. For dinner reservations/enquiries call 9639 8770