Live Review: All Eyes On Austra

If you live in Toronto and you don’t know Austra by now then you should probably stay under that rock. Harsh as it may be, with a debut album mixed by Damian Taylor, praises from Jay-Z’s music camp on Life + Times and a frenzy of buzz spackled everywhere worth noting, recognizing Katie Stelmanis’ face on the cover of Now isn’t that crazy of a notion. She took our 20 Questions just last week, and last night we joined the rest of the city’s trendsetters to celebrate the May 17th release of the Über-anticipated debut ‘Feel It Break’.

We arrived at the already bustling venue as Trust took the stage and all our distractions dissipated as we were consumed by their sound. The Toronto duo of Robert Alfons and Maya Postepski(also of Austra) may not appear to be anything special at first glance – they have no gimmicks or fancy lighting (in fact, they had barely any lighting at all!) but their dark, hook-heavy songs with that combination of live and programmed drumming totally blew me away. Trust is a duo you should become acquainted with. They have only a 7” available at the moment at Sacred Bones but they’ll be releasing a new video and song in the fall, so watch out for it.

Our impatience between sets was satiated by the stellar tunes being spun as we waited for lighting kinks to be ironed out for Austra’s set. The trio of Katie Stelmanis, Maya Postepski and Dorian Wolf were joined by two additional vocalists to elevate the cadence. Stelmanisstood center stage, stunning in her Aztec tights and graciously thanked the sold out crowd for joining them for the album’s release, demurely adding that she didn’t think they’d fill the venue.

Goth in the vein of Fever Ray and Zola Jesus, Austra’s songs are dark yet they veer away from a depressive infliction and occupy a melancholy space rendering them danceable above merely a shuffle.

As challenging a task as deciding where to place a song as unanimously adorned as ‘Lose It’ may be, it was crossed off early presumably to allow for the audience to experience the rest of what they have to offer while taking advantage of the live setting.

Stelmanis may possess the harrowing vocals that necessitate a crowd’s full attention but Austra as a creative collective are immensely talented. I particularly enjoyed watching Maya Postepski and Dorian Wolf’sadept and how each contributed to the complete sound to distinguish what they’re doing as Austra from another Stelmanis solo project.

Pick up the album at your local record store or order it online from Paper Bag Records because it’s guaranteed to make all the ‘best of’ lists this year!

Words by Kate Masewich
Photos by Courtney Lee Yip (fleewithcourtneylee.wordpress.com)