#16 Austra - Olympia

[Click for Soundtrack]

Ok...gonna keep this one short, cause I can barely function on a belly full of turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, mac & cheese, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green beans, broccoli, rice & beans, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, pie, wine and gravy...lots and lots of gravy

So I'm assuming you've pressed play on the post's soundtrack already and you can hear the clicks, the beat, the effects and that voice...that operatic gift of a voice emanating from Katie Stelmanis (Austra). It grabs you. It's enchanting. It's art. I also can't help but think that this is what Karin Dreijer Andersson (The Knife, Fever Ray) wants to do with her voice when she puts a bunch of effects through it.. Stelmanis has a rare talent

Speaking of Andersson, the beats on this album have the electronica mission at heart like The Knife and flex the island sound like Fever Ray. What Austra sought to do on this record was "to make electronic music acoustically". That's pretty dope. On arguably the album's best track, "We Become", we're gifted with an Andersson-esque caribbean beat and Stelmanis coos:

It could be islands
It could be better!What's better than an island? All the while her voice ranging from high to higher and never faltering. You tap your foot and move your shoulders and it just puts you in that zone. The instruments are so pure, there's no sense of this music being overly-fabricated, which tells us that Austra has succeeded in their goal

Finally on the album's most versatile track, "Home", the keyboards standout over a house beat, sounding like something out of an LCD Soundsystem or Hot Chip song. And i realize the multitude of comparisons here and leaving myself open for criticism like "Well if it sounds like all these other bands, how is it original?" It's her voice. Noone else can claim the musical boundaries that Austra aspires to cross because Stelmanis' voice is so unique, beautiful and serene
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Barring another food coma, #15 drops tomorrow!