Austra - Feel It Break (Domino)
4/5
By: Chris Jones
This Canadian trio is fronted by lead singer Katie Stelmanis, a Canadian Latvian with a big voice who was classically trained in operatic singing. Backing the torrential flowing of Katie’s voice is Maya Postepski, the drummer and programmer of the band who in this stunningly well realised debut weaves a fine mesh of layers of electronic experimentation that Austra have rightly become known for. The third member Dorian Wolf plays bass and anchors the dark, electro synth-pop that at times threatens to stray, from getting too messy.
Opening track ‘Darken Her Horse’ begins with a tense theatrical intro; Katie’s voice fills the minimalist landscape of the track, until a tide of new wave revival washes through and leads it towards the catchy hooks. ‘Lose It’ follows suit in so much as it has a super infectious chorus, a great vocal lead and harmonies, but there’s a much more perceptible sense of melancholy borne out of the theme of loss.
‘Beat and the Pulse’ is the lead single, and on it the choppy synths create a Lego-like soundscape that had my head bopping involuntarily. Definitely the best all-out dance track on the album, it also ingeniously retains the echoing ethereal quality in Katie’s voice in a way that makes you pay attention to what sounds like the churning of some dark musical mechanism.
Elsewhere, ‘Spellwork’ is a catchy, dreamlike 80’s-tinged track and ‘The Choke’ boasts an awesome mournful chorus “The thing that leaves you in the darkness is her.” The way Katie sings it consumes the song. ‘Hate Crime’ opens with unusually aggressive vocals that find their way through plonky synths that drip over the driving bass line. The vocals are massive in each song, ‘Hate Crime’ is no different in that, but this one is strangely lyrical, moving from the opening words “Don’t want to sympathise, with the darkness” to the more abstract and surprisingly compelling “Who signed the consent forms?” . ‘Shoot the Water’ has a great piano part that shows Austra have a great range of instrumentalists in their armoury. ‘The Noise’ is a wailing lament, with a strong guitar twang and is laden with a sense of extreme abandon and surrender to ‘The Noise’.
Austra merge the inspiration taken from concrete experience and evolve it into a variety of abstract soundscapes and ideas, while infusing them with a range of musical influences from new wave to classical. Despite the eclectic musical spectrum from which they draw, Feel It Break has real pop potential – aside from the the dark, almost ritualistic elements, it’s also so catchy that it ticks all the boxes for a mainstream hit
Artists in this article: Austra
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