The Sweets of Sin's move to Sydney resulted in their being seen by Larrikin Records' Bill O'Toole at a Balmain world music venue. Their debut self-titled album was issued in 1989 by Jarra Hill Records under the Larrikin Records label. Australian Rolling Stones Mark Demetrious found The Sweets of Sin "boast a rich potpourri of instruments and influences, the latter including Middle Eastern, Chinese, cabaret and German electronic. But where the likes of Kraftwerk and Can were often sterile and mechanistic, this album is bursting with life and is as beautifully evocative as it is musically literate". Even though uneasy with the "world music" description, they were open to its influences, which are seen in "Can Hatice" (their rendition of a Kurdish song performed by Ibrahim Tatlises) and "The Gang of Four on Holiday in Sudan". They issued "Experiment with Me" as the debut single in 1987, it had been written by Stephen Lock.. Critics praised the band, however this did not translate into making a living. Their residency at the Sandringham Hotel (which they held, irregularly, for a couple of years) did not develop their artistic ambitions so they decided they would interest a larger and more experimental-minded European audience.
