Is 2017 the year Synthpop takes over? I highly doubt it but you could make an argument with Austra’s third studio album ‘Future Politics’, via Domino/Pink Fizz Records. The Toronto electronic group first broke the scene with the 2011 album ‘Feel it Break’ a great debut, but you can tell how far they have come with ‘Future Politics’ the name even suiting the state of the world right now with the election of Donald Trump.
Opening track ‘We Were Alive’ sets the mood and lightens your soul to a peace. Katie Stelmanis lead vocalist brings similar vocal range to Florence Welch (Florence and The Machine). The track focuses on this and the execution is beyond successful, behind the chill-tempo drumbeats, the song builds multilayered synths to create a beautiful opening. The titled track ‘Future Politics’, changes the tempo, a heavy trance-like bass, easily worthy of finding yourself getting lost to, so you can only imagine the remixes to come. Stelmanis doesn’t make the song too political but doesn’t shy from stating her opinions, “The system won't help you when / Your money runs out”.
‘Utopia’ the first single released sets another bar, one of the most prestigious tracks of the record, a great dance track, layered with a string orchestra. “Like a hunter with teeth/There's nothing I wouldn't do”, Stelmanis is continuing a theme of feeling like the outsider, but she has grown out of her fragile/victim state and has become hungrier and that has made her colder along the way. This theme is continued in ‘I’m A Monster’, “I'm a monster/I am on fire, I'm blooming,/ baby Why don't you care for me anymore?”.
-->
There are calm moments on the record, and they come through tracks ‘I Love You More Than You Love Yourself ‘, ‘Angel in Your Eye’, and ‘Beyond a Mortal’. All three tracks are Stelmanis’s opportunity to show her skills as a songwriter, writing tense nervy songs. The tempo is brought back up through tracks ‘Freepower’ and ‘Gaia’, ‘Gaia’ being one of the most outstanding tracks of the record. ‘Deep Thought’ an interlude played out on a harp sets the tone for the closing track ‘43’. Stelmanis finds this as her last opportunity to get out her emotions and confess to her love that she has been trying to convince throughout the record.
7.5/10
7.5/10
No comments:
Post a Comment