Toronto-based electronic band Austra (Katie Stelmanis, Maya Postepski, Dorian Wolf and Ryan Wonsiak) will follow up their second album Olympia(2013) with Future Politics (2016, forthcoming) - which comes with a more conceptual approach.
Stelmanis drew inspiration for the full-length album while living in Montreal and Mexico City, and has stated that it intends "to put together our collective visions and hopes and make a future we can stand behind ... Not just hope in the future, but the idea that everyone is required to help write it, and the boundaries of what it can look like are completely endless. It’s not about ‘being political,’ it’s about reaching beyond boundaries, in every single field.”
The press release from Domino Records describes the album as "a collection of urgent, disciplined anthems for dancefloors and headphones alike, that asks each of us to remember that apocalypse is not an inevitability, but the product of human decision-making. It aims for a world without borders, where human compassion and curiosity drive technological innovation rather than profit, where the necessity of labour is replaced with time for creativity and personal growth, and the terror and destruction wrought by colonialism and white supremacy is recognized as a dark age in human history. The album is radicalism distilled: to galvanic beats, gorgeous, kinetic melodies, and the vulnerable majesty of Stelmanis’s voice".
The visuals in the album artwork and music video for "Utopia" present a near-future with dystopic undertones (Stelmanis may be drawing inspiration from the film adaptation of fellow Canadian Margaret Atwood's 1985 novel ). Everything is sleek and minimalist, but the human soul is still finds itself lacking meaning and intimacy (and technological advances have apparently done nothing to solve the perennial pain caused by interpersonal conflicts):
'I live in a city full of people I don't knowPeople riding highways from the workplace to the homeI raise my hand, I see the different announceBut I only want to hold your hand my whole damn lifeI can picture a place where everybody feels it tooIt might be fiction but I'm seeing aheadThere's nothing I wouldn't doThere's nothing I wouldn't do
Cut me a slice of the apple that I growMy work is valid, I can't prove it but I knowA woman screams, she's looking for meaning behindA man who'll make her cry her whole damn life'
Lyrics: Genius
The existentialist themes may seem heavy, but Austra has successfully delivered tracks that suit the dancefloors and close listening. Stelmanis drew inspiration from heavyweight economic and philosophical texts, as well as from European club legends like Objekt, Peter Van Hoesen, Lena Willikens and Massive Attack while recording the album. Her operatic vocals are paired with energetic beats and arresting melodies that creates a neo-spiritual dance track that seems somehow enjoyable, despite the philosophical and emotional malaise it laments.
Few will look forward to a lonely existence within a futuristic all-white apartment with an Amazon Echo-esque device for company and bugs for protein - but a future scored by Austra may make all that digital alienation worthwhile.
