Following 2010’s Feel It Break, the band is now firmly established as a six piece with each member contributing ideas and lyrics in a far more collaborative approach. “Previously, I would flesh out songs before I brought them to the band, but this time I left them bare and let the others fill them in,” explains lead singer and songwriter Katie Stelmanis.
Home is a beguiling piece of electro pop. A rolling house inflected piano provides the insidious hook while Stelmanis’s vocals are expertly poised. It’s a song in keeping with the album’s promised theme of dark introspection focusing on relationships and the destructive nature of addiction.
The band also emphasise that Olympia is very much an upbeat dance record despite the deeper lyrical content. “We are really into dense harmonies and big beautiful melodies, but I also love techno and dance music. I wanted to bring those elements together,” states Stelmanis.
Olympia will be released on 17 June through Domino and will be accompanied by a London album launch show at Hoxton Square Bar + Kitchen on the same day. The album’s track listing can be found below:
1. What We Done?
2. Forgive Me
3. Painful Like
4. Sleep
5. Home
6. Fire
7. I Don’t Care (I’m a Man)
8. We Become
9. Reconcile
10. Annie (Oh muse, you)
11. You Changed My Life
12. Hurt Me Now
Austra MP3s or CDs
Austra on Spotify
