"Future Politics is the breaking down of paradigms. In this video, we wanted to explore what a world might look like if our values were transformed: instead of glorifying labour, maybe we could learn to glorify the act of doing absolutely nothing.”
Austra, Youtube
After releasing lead single "Utopia" in October, Toronto-based electronic band Austra has recently released a music video for the titular "Future Politics" from their promising third album. In officewear-clad humans in a densely populated and frenetic urban setting appear to suffer from an invisible plague, before being bathed in vibrant sunlight and finding solace by chilling out in a vast, abandoned parking lot.
Lead singer Katie Stelmanis' operatic vocals soar into the sublime clouds, singing about the redemption that can be found by escaping a fundamentally broken political system:
'I look ahead and I think about itTo steal a horse, but he needs to healI don't wanna hear that it's all my faultThe system won't help you and your money won't helpWe're out of this The grave has been dugI'm looking for something to rise up aboveI'm never coming back hereThere's only one wayFuture Politics(x2)Future PoliticsRest assure and I'll find it, I'll take itRest assure, when I find itI will take itI'm not a coward, like themWell, I got my moneyI'm not a coward, like themI don't need more money'
Lyrics: Genius
The reference to money politics certainly seems pertinent when Donald Trump is about to take on the role of President of the United States and very possibly mix personal business interests with public office in a startling and unprecedented way; the song's buoyant synths and catchy melody hints that the promise of utopia can be realized by a radical uprooting and embrace of an alternative arrangement. This 'future politics' refer to 'visions that are radically different from anything we've known before'. Naturally, a 4-minute song doesn't have enough space to fully describe and delineate this vision - but perhaps the album as a whole will provide some promising hints.
