Austra @ Hillside Festival in Guelph

About the artist

Austra are an electronic band from Toronto, ON, Canada comprising Katie Stelmanis (principal songwriter), Maya Postepski, and Dorian Wolf. They débuted with the single “The Beat And The Pulse” (November 2010, One Big Silence), and their latest release is the remix album “Sparkle” (July 2011, Domino) . Their debut album, “Feel It Break” (May 2011, Domino), came after a long sequence of bands for Stelmanis, representing a near ten year musical progression performing as an artist, then fleshed-out by a full band. More settled and dominant than ever, the band’s sound represents Stelmanis’ influences tightened into a shiny metal ball — pianos give way to keyboards as songs build and pull, their urgent, dark melodies arpeggiating through multiple synthesizers, wrapping themselves around Stelmanis’ voice.