Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under

Provocative, irreverent, controversial, entertaining and artistic. Amanda Palmer continues to push the boundaries as the Queen of Punk Cabaret.

"Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under" is her latest offering as a solo artist. A collection of live and studio tracks with an Australian theme, the album berates a lover for his love of Vegemite and celebrates a lady's nether regions with the new single 'Map of Tasmania'. All material for this album was lovingly penned for and recorded in Australia. It includes some special tributes in the form of covers of Nick Cave and New Zealand's Peter Jefferies.

Anyone who's ever seen or heard Palmer – whether raising eyebrows and attracting onlookers as The Eight Foot Bride living statue in Cambridge's Harvard Square, delivering dramatically direct, wildly theatrical performances as one half of the cabaret-punk duo The Dresden Dolls, or, most recently, as a solo artist whose uncompromising vision has frequently made her a flashpoint for both admiration and controversy – will attest to the fact that being a musician and rock star is not merely a job, and never has been.

Instead, Palmer is her art. And, in turn, her art is an extension of who she is, and is always becoming: a voracious seeker of creative catharsis and emotional release, a bold participant in games of truth or dare (she always opts for both) on a life-sized stage, and, above all, an utterly un-categorize-able work-in-progress. She's a fearless singer and songwriter, of course, and an audaciously expressive pianist who simultaneously embraces – and explodes – traditional frameworks of composition.

She's collaborated with indie pop pianist Ben Folds (who produced her most recent solo work Who Killed Amanda Palmer) and teamed with acclaimed author, and now husband, Neil Gaiman for a storybook of photography that beautifully expands the conceptual and narrative ideas outlined in her ambitious solo album. She created an ambitious 12-video DVD project to match each song of the record with filmmaker Michael Pope, and continues to post so-called "Karaoke Verité" lip-dub videos of other musicians' work on YouTube.

"Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under" coincides with the Opera House 'Australia Day Spectacular' with Amanda inviting special guests; Neil Gaiman, cabaret darling Meow Meow and Mikelangelo & The Black Sea Gentleman to join her on this January 26th celebration.

Amanda Palmer will be touring across Australia in January & February, taking in the MONO FOMA festival in Tasmania as a special guest of curator Brian Ritchie of the Violent Femmes, and reprising her much lauded performance at the Forum Theatre in Melbourne.

Amanda Palmer brings her special brand of humour to Australia with headline performances across the country.