Q Track Of The Day: Gotye

Gotye – Hearts A Mess

Gotye (pronounced go-tee-yay rather than not goaty, go-tie or got-yer) is basically Bruges-born Wally De Backer who laboured away on his music as a bedroom project while working away through a series of unfulfilling day jobs.

Now based in Melbourne, his hard work paid dividends when he landed the Australian equivalent of the Mercury last year after initially drawing attention with a promo copy of his tracks which he circulated.

Piecing his material together from samples the sparse new single Hearts A Mess lulls you in with harp, strings and Hammond before it all goes a bit Peter Gabriel-meets-Bjork on the chorus.

The track is constructed around a rebuilt loop from Harry Belafonte’s Banana Boat Song (although you would probably be hard-pushed to spot the source) and is released on June 2.