Tasty Assessment: Austra: Feel It Break

From the first moment I heard "Beat and the Pulse" I knew Katie Stelmanis was onto something with Austra. Toronto's classically trained opera singer/piano player Stelmanis is the principal songwriter in the electronic group Austra. The bands debut album Feel It Break came out on May 17 on Domino Records. Even with a plethora of bands fronted by strong (often classically trained) vocalists like Zola Jesus, Florence and the Machine, Cat's Eyes, and Oh Land but there was still a void I didn't even know was missing until I heard Austra.


The album opens with a haunting synth bass note and and doesn't relent till the last track (a beautiful piano number). For the better part of the album Stelmanis trades her classical piano for synths but her operatic voice is never that far removed. The arrangements have an orchestral sensibility that does not go unnoticed. The driving kick drum sits darkly under most tracks and like all of the percussion has the electronic quality of an 808 (especially the tight cymbals). At first listen the looping electronics are so perfectly quantized that is makes for a very unnatural, inhuman sounding backing track but it sets the stage for Stelmanis (and her twin backing vocalists) in a most appropriate way. Her cold delivery is heightened by the stark synths. The dynamics of the instruments come less from volume and mainly from layering of the different parts. Each sound sitting comfortably in it's place in the whole like each section of the orchestra is represented. As expertly crafted as the backing tracks are there is no denying that that is all they are. Stelmanis's vocals are what this is all about. Her backing vocals sit much like a chorus (Stelmanis was part of childrens opera choir when she was young) nicely reinforcing the important moments. The reverb on the voices gives them the distance and feel of an empty concert hall if you were sitting closer to the back that is absolutely perfect. 


Feel It Break despite the gothic picture it paints is not entirely a dark album. Some tracks are uplifting, especially when the voices reach the higher registers. The strength of Austra is the vocal delivery in all of it's vocal gymnastics. The huge pipes on Stelmanis shine down on the listener in all their splendid glory. Austra has put together a very strong debut album and display plenty of room to grow. For now the only growing I would count on is Feel It Break growing on listeners everywhere.