Austra is a Canadian
electronic music
Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroa ...
band from
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
, founded in 2009 by composer, singer-songwriter, and producer
Katie Stelmanis
Kaitlin "Katie" Austra Stelmanis ( lv, Keitlīna "Keitija" Austra Štēlmane, born 1985) is a Toronto-based Latvian Canadian musician, who has performed and recorded both as a solo artist and with the bands Galaxy and Austra. Stelmanis identifies ...
. Stelmanis is the only permanent member of the project, with a rotating live band that has included
Maya Postepski (drums), Dorian Wolf (bass,
Moog), and Ryan Wonsiak (keyboards). It previously also featured the twin backing singers Sari and Romy Lightman of
Tasseomancy. The band has released four studio albums—''
Feel It Break'' (2011), ''
Olympia'' (2013), ''
Future Politics'' (2017), and ''
Hirudin
Hirudin is a naturally occurring peptide in the salivary glands of blood-sucking leeches (such as '' Hirudo medicinalis'') that has a blood anticoagulant property. This is fundamental for the leeches’ habit of feeding on blood, since it keeps ...
'' (2020).
History
Formation and early years
In 2004, Stelmanis and Postepski played in a band called Galaxy, together with
Emma McKenna.
At the same time, Stelmanis started making electronic music at home and was also writing industrial-inspired soundtracks for performance artist Zeesy Powers. Powers convinced her to start performing her songs live, and in 2008 Stelmanis' debut album ''Join Us'', which appeared under her own name, was released through
Blocks Recording Club
Blocks Recording Club was a Canadian co-operative of musicians, which served as both a collaborative artist community and a record label for its member artists.[xylosynth
The xylosynth, also known as a "xylophonic synthesizer", is an instrument created by Will Wernick in 1986, originally specifically designed for the English pop band, the Drum Theatre.
History
In the early 1990s, there was a demand of artists wan ...]
.
In 2009, Stelmanis decided to change the name of the project from her own in order to increase her bandmates' visibility, and because she felt too many people were mistaking the project for being an acoustic-folk act.
In 2010, Stelmanis recruited Dorian Wolf and Carmen Elle as live members. The band played the
South by South West
South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, T ...
festival in Austin, Texas, under the name Private Life. An A&R from
Domino Records saw the show and Stelmanis subsequently signed a record deal with the label. After learning the band name Private Life was taken, Stelmanis decided to use her middle name, Austra, which is also the name of the goddess of light in
Latvian mythology
Latvian mythology is the collection of myths that have emerged throughout the history of Latvia, sometimes being elaborated upon by successive generations, and at other times being rejected and replaced by other explanatory narratives. These myth ...
.
2011–2013: ''Feel It Break''
Austra's debut studio album, ''
Feel It Break'' was released on May 11, 2011, by
Domino Records,
and May 17, 2011, in Canada by
Paper Bag Records
Paper Bag Records is a Canadian independent record label, artist-management company, and music publisher founded in 2002 and based in Toronto.
History
The label was created to focus on the Toronto-area indie rock music scene. Initial signing ...
. The album was shortlisted for the
.
''Feel It Break'' was included on several year-end critics' lists; notably, both the ''
Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...
'' and ''
New York'' named it the best album of 2011, with the former calling it "an outright stunner". Stereogum named Austra a Band to Watch in March 2011. Stelmanis wrote and produced all the tracks on the album. Maya added additional production on ''Lose It, The Future, The Choke'' and ''The Villain''. The record was mixed by Damian Taylor in Montreal.
2013–present: ''Olympia'' and ''Future Politics''
Their second album ''
Olympia'' was released on June 18, 2013. It was preceded by the lead single "Home", released on March 7, 2013. It was described as "a personal song cycle about loss and gender dynamics".
Their third album ''
Future Politics'' was released on January 20, 2017. For the record, Stelmanis spent time in Mexico where she was introduced to electro cumbia while house, dance and techno music influenced the writing for the album. Lyrically, Stelmanis was inspired by the book ''
Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work'' by
Nick Srnicek
Nick Srnicek (born 1982) is a Canadian writer and academic. He is currently a lecturer in Digital Economy in the Department of Digital Humanities, King's College London. Srnicek is associated with the political theory of accelerationism and a pos ...
and Alex Williams and ''The Accelerationist Manifesto''.
She indicated that the material for the record had been written before the political events in the second half of 2016.
In 2020, Austra released the album ''HiRUDin'', which ''Pitchfork'' called 'the most dynamic of Austra's albums".
It was produced by
Rodaidh McDonald
Rodaidh McDonald is a Scottish record producer and record company executive. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and currently resides in Los Angeles, California, United States. His production and mixing credits include The xx, King Krule, Adele, ...
and features contributions from
Cecile Believe
Cecile Believe (formerly known as Mozart's Sister) is a solo project by Montreal-based Canadian musician Caila Thompson-Hannant.
Biography
Thompson-Hannant's musical beginnings are much accredited to the electropop introduced to her by her uncle ...
and
Joseph Shabason.
Discography
Studio albums
Remix albums
* ''Sparkle'' (2011)
EPs
* ''Beat and the Pulse'' (2010)
* ''Habitat'' (2014)
Singles
* "Lose It" (2011)
* "Spellwork" (2011)
* "Home" (2013)
* "Painful Like" (2013)
* "Forgive Me" (2013)
* "Hurt Me Now" (2014)
* "Habitat" (2014)
* "American Science" (2014)
* "Utopia" (2016)
* "Future Politics" (2016)
* "I Love You More Than You Love Yourself" (2017)
* "Change the Paradigm" (2017)
* "Risk It" (2020)
* "Anywayz" (2020)
* "I Am Not Waiting" (2020)
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
2009 establishments in Ontario
Art pop groups
Canadian dark wave musical groups
Canadian new wave musical groups
Canadian synthpop groups
Domino Recording Company artists
Musical groups established in 2009
Musical groups from Toronto
Musical quartets
Paper Bag Records artists