They hung themselves from meat hooks, pelted their audience with offal – and blazed a trail for radical queer performance in Australia. Sylvia and the Synthetics – Australia’s audacious drag provocateurs and underground LGBTQ pioneers – burned brightly and chaotically for the short two years of their reign.

Lovers Dreamers Fighters is the name of country singer Lo Carmen’s latest album. Three words that say a lot, especially if you’re a musician. Carmen’s love for music and dreams of becoming a singer began in the clubs and concert halls of Australia beside her Dad’s piano. Then, it was the Rolling Stones, Ronnie Spector, Tom Waits, Loretta Lynn and Janis Joplin who inspired her; among others. With help from her musician Dad – a progressive rock keyboardist and country musician – she was playing the guitar on songs “Wild Thing” and “To Know Him is to Love Him” at age 15. Music was a natural progression for the storyteller.

The Australian Americana songwriter joins forces with Bonnie 'Prince' Billy for an atmospheric tune based in equal parts light and dark.

Lo Carmen is an artist by many means: actress, artist, singer and songwriter. As an actress, the Australia native has starred in “The Year My Voice Broke,” “Red Dog” and “Blue Murder.” However, while she admits she’s always eager to take on a creative endeavor, Carmen’s heart is in her music. This is clear on her forthcoming album Lovers Dreamers Fighters, which was written in a sleepy town in Georgia and recorded in Nashville at The Butcher Shoppe and Welcome to 1979 Studios.

With her sixth solo studio album, the Australian teen-actress-turned-country-songstress looked back to the folk traditions of her adopted home and produced perhaps the most sincere Americana record released in recent years.