ICEHOUSE

One of the most revered bands to emerge from Australia during the New-Wave era, ICEHOUSE were equally distinctive for their stately synth-pop and for the romantic grandeur that filled their songs. A trained oboist and professional performer since the age of 16, frontman Iva Davies established the band—then called Flowers—in Sydney in 1977. They swapped out their name before the release of 1980’s Icehouse, a debut album that showed the lessons Davies absorbed from the Roxy Music, David Bowie, and Ultravox covers in Flowers’ early setlists. Two hits from 1982’s Primitive Man—“Hey, Little Girl” and “Great Southern Land”—established Icehouse’s brand of steely cool. In the mid-‘80s, “No Promises” and the shimmering “Electric Blue” (cowritten with John Oates) broadened the band’s fanbase beyond Australia. Though Davies shifted into a solo career in the late ‘90s and ceased making music under his band’s name, he has periodically reformed ICEHOUSE for live shows that kept the shine on their sleek, chic, yet often beautifully emotive body of work.