I haven’t put on my reporter hat in a while, having not anything unique or interesting to add to an already well-catered field. But seeing I haven’t seen this news announced anywhere else…

Gotye has inked a deal with a UK label by the name of Lucky Number. Details at this point are limited to a fairly unsubstantial press release, as reproduced here:

Gotye is our new signing. Gotye is a young Australian fellow named Wally De Backer who makes the most wonderful music in his bedroom. Wally told us that in Australia they pronounce Gotye as “gore-ti-yeah”, using that inimitably dry and elongated sound they call an “accent”! Wally can say that because he was born in Belgium (and he speaks English good). Parties from overseas wishing to “name-check” Wally’s musical moniker should employ a complex system of pops and clicks, or alternatively, engage in a series of hand symbols that represent the following character: §.

We will be releasing Wally’s album in 2008 so you will be hearing a whole lot more about him soon. Needless to say he is, quite frankly, one of the most ridiculously talented people we have ever had the enormous pleasure (and luck) to meet. It took us 18 months and many a horrendous phone bill to sign this young man and during that time his Australian career went like this: record album in bedroom, release said album on his own label with no help, album tracks get played and championed by Triple J radio, word-of-mouth spreads, wins the AMP Award for outstanding potential (like our Mercury Award), sells some more records, goes on tour with his mini-orchestra, sells more records, gets nominated for 5 (yes 5!) Australian Recording Industry (ARIA) Awards and then, last month, only goes and wins the big one – the ARIA for Best Male. Now, that’s a good story don’t you think!?!

It seems that they are already at work promoting the upcoming release, having uploaded a full-length stream of the Hearts a Mess radio edit to the Gotye Last.FM page, which is curiously tagged under the name “Heart’s a Mess EP”. Whether this is a real upcoming release or not is yet to be seen – no details seem to have been released. But if there really is an EP on its way, that means extra tracks – which means good!

One tidbit of interest: I can say that Wally has revealed to me that there will be a new, remixed version of The Only Thing I Know released in the UK (possibly on the album itself). If you’ve ever found yourself wishing the Boardface version had a little more punch to it, this will be interesting news to your ears! Allegedly Wally did the mix with Franc Tetaz (who mixed and mastered Like Drawing Blood)

At any rate, one thing seems certain: UK residents (and possibly the rest of Europe) can look forward to an inundation of messy hearts and distinctive sounds very soon!