Feel It Break
Toronto trio Austra works with a simple synth/drum/bass palette, rooted in the ‘80s sounds farmed both by commercial bands like Depeche Mode and a number of artists in the 4AD stable. Katie Stelmanis’ remarkable, lightly tremeloed voice has an ethereal quality, with a dark spirit and a lost-soul plaintiveness that is sturdier than, say, Cocteau Twins’ Elizabeth Fraser. (The band has covered Roy Orbison’s “Crying,” a tune well suited to Stelmanis’ voice.) Synths are the core of Austra’s sound — they gurgle and purr (albeit, darkly and often fuzzily) when in dance mode, glide and glisten and glare in atmospherics mode; the crisp, skeletal drums of Maya Postepski and Dorian Wolf’s understated bass are the sturdy armature around which the tunes swirl. A song like “Beat and the Pulse” puts the band clearly in the electronica arena — it’s quiet, cool, slightly foreboding and sensual. But tracks like “Lose It” belie an ear for pop-dom, with a trilling, sing-along chorus and appealing — dare we say “happy” — dance beat. If you are utterly enchanted with Stelmanis’ (classically trained) voice, seek out her previous solo work.
Latest in a line of goth-pop artists-- think Bat for Lashes or Zola Jesus-- to emerge in recent years issues a promising Domino debut.
Latest in a line of goth-pop artists-- think Bat for Lashes or Zola Jesus-- to emerge in recent years issues a promising Domino debut.
Dark, sexy, and cryptic, Toronto’s Austra hits the holy trinity of synthesizer music on Feel It Break. “I came so hard in your mouth,” coos onetime opera hopeful Katie Stelmanis, “I saw the future / It was dark.” Bolstered by crystalline keys, Eurodance pulse, and layers of Kate Bush-like yips, “The Future” should be…
Dark, sexy, and cryptic, Toronto’s Austra hits the holy trinity of synthesizer music on Feel It Break. “I came so hard in your mouth,” coos onetime opera hopeful Katie Stelmanis, “I saw the future / It was dark.” Bolstered by crystalline keys, Eurodance pulse, and layers of Kate Bush-like yips, “The Future” should be…
Torontonian Katie Stelmanis toiled for years as a prodigious classical performer/composer before putting a band together (as well as her own tour) to promote these first forays in quasi-gothic electro
Torontonian Katie Stelmanis toiled for years as a prodigious classical performer/composer before putting a band together (as well as her own tour) to promote these first forays in quasi-gothic electro
As a singer, Austra's Katie Stelmanis possesses an elusive, intangible, ineffable quality that you can't help but notice.
As a singer, Austra's Katie Stelmanis possesses an elusive, intangible, ineffable quality that you can't help but notice.
Chilly synths and cut-glass vocals from Toronto win <strong>Michael Hann</strong>'s approval
Chilly synths and cut-glass vocals from Toronto win <strong>Michael Hann</strong>'s approval