The latest album by Katie Stelmanis’ Toronto-formed project Austra was driven by the diminishment of her city’s progressive cultural pulse.
Stelmanis made the move to Montreal in 2013, following the release of the band’s 2011 debut, Feel It Break,and the completion of LP number two, Olympia. But in the lead-up to the project’s third record, Future Politics, Stelmanis spent time living in Mexico City, an experience that showed her Toronto isn’t the only place facing such cultural decline.
“I realised that the disenchantment I was feeling with Toronto is almost like a worldwide epidemic with cities,” she says. “Most desirable cities to live in in the world are becoming so unaffordable and so taken over by a financial culture that they really aren’t what they once were, even five years ago.
“As someone who travels a lot, every city I go to, people are having the same complaints – Berlin, London, Seattle, Austin, even Mexico City, Toronto… all of these cities are experiencing this financialisation that is a culture crusher.”
The ramifications of this trend can be maddening, but it’s also imperative for creative people to push back against such profit-oriented swings and make their voices heard.
The album title Future Politics alludes to Stelmanis’ grander intentions for this album – to make music that contributes to a better future and circumvents the decline into an arts-free dystopia. Released three-and-a-half years after Olympia, it’s a rather bold endeavour, particularly within the realm of pop music – but the album’s construction was a form of self-therapy as much as anything else.
“I started writing the record from a very dark and pessimistic place and I think it’s quite obvious which songs on the record were written in that time,” Stelmanis says. “But that’s not a state I’m generally comfortable being in, and it was really important to me to find a way out. And I did that through reading a lot, everything from economic books to sci-fi. I was able to see this light at the end of the tunnel with this whole concept of, ‘The future doesn’t exist and it can be anything.’ That was something that did eventually make me feel optimistic.”
Stylistically, Future Politics seems like the logical follow-up to Olympia. Olympia was a more extroverted record than debut album Feel It Break and Future Politics again features several songs that tie in with Stelmanis’ aim to tap into the liberating and galvanising potential of dance music.
Furthermore, the two albums are united by a contrast between the positive tint of the musical arrangements and a dark lyrical focus. As Stelmanis explains, maintaining this balance is not only a conscious act, but one she attributes to her upbringing.
“I never have to worry about making things too light,” she says. “Just in a songwriting sense, it’s so easy for me to slip into these ultra-melodramatic, opera-inspired melodies that I always try and lighten up a little bit. I think it’s because I was raised in opera – that’s the music that I grew up on so it’s ingrained in my brain to write music like that. It’s a struggle to write rather light-hearted music.”
But despite the seeming similarities, the origins of Olympia and Future Politics were far removed. While Feel It Break was more or less a Stelmanis solo record, Olympia was a true product and demonstration of the Austra live band. The band went on a major world tour in support of Olympia, but following this, Stelmanis reverted to a solitary approach.
“Olympia was a collective album that I wrote with the five musicians I was touring with at the time. Future Politics was the complete opposite of that. Future Politics was 99 per cent written by myself at home and that was something I felt like I really needed to do after having the Olympia experience. I felt this need to reconnect with my independence.
“The making of Olympia was a beautiful process and I loved doing it, but a lot of the collaboration was done [at a time] where I was telling myself that I couldn’t do it myself. I was like, ‘I’m not good at writing lyrics so I’ll get somebody else to do it,’ or ‘I’m not good at this so I’ll get somebody else to do this part of it.’
“After making Future Politics almost entirely by myself, I’m excited to collaborate again and come from a place of so much more confidence. I do feel like I am capable of doing all of those things.”
Stelmanis’ journey of creative self-discovery explains the three-and-a-half year gap between albums, and she returns feeling confident about the identity of the Austra project. Meanwhile, her regenerated enthusiasm for collaboration doesn’t signal an intention to relinquish her position as Austra’s driving force and creative leader.
“It’ll definitely always be me calling the shots and leading the way. It wouldn’t be an Austra record if it was any other way. I think it would be interesting to collaborate with people [who are] not a part of Austra. That’s something I would be open to trying.”
Future Politics is out Friday January 20 through Domino.
