Austra is ... well, where to start? The group is plugged full of
seemingly endless musical ideas and quite a few contradictions as well.
As much as this is 21st century dance music, there's a surprising
amount of organic, and real instrument sounds behind it. Lead
singer/writer Katie Stelmanis straddles a fine line between robotic
vocals and ethereal, Celtic sounds, again ancient and modern. The
classically-trained vocalist is just as passionate about the beats.
As much as her echoed vocals seemed to be coming across some
distant moors sung to either Heathcliff or Frodo, these are actually
modern stories, Stelmanis singing about personal relationships with
friends and such. It's largely postive too: "You changed my life for
the best" one of the direct messages. All this makes it cathartic and
smarter-than-the-average-bear for dance, but it's the beats and riffs
that win out. Nicely though, even the construction is way smarter than
normal, with all the little touches of layered backing vocals, actual
bass, heavy strings and pretty textures making these more songs than
grooves. This answers the question, can dance music be serious
composition?
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