If she had wanted to, Katie Stelmanis could have been an opera singer. Instead, she’s become an electro-pop powerhouse, known by most as the frontwoman of burgeoning Canadian club act Austra.
Stelmanis has always been involved in music. As a kid, she studied piano, viola, and sang with the Canadian Opera Company’s youth choir. But instead of staying classical and studying opera after high school, she started an alt-rock band.
“It took me a while to sort of figure out my new singing voice,” Stelmanis said in an interview from her mobile phone. She was preparing to set out on tour after a sold-out, hometown CD release gig at Lee’s Palace in Toronto May 19.
Austra’s debut album, Feel it Break, dropped May 17 amidst a steadily growing media hype. The indie “afficionados” at Pitchfork have even heralded the group as part of the “new golden age of goth.”
But after two years with riot grrrl act Galaxy, and even more touring her solo album Join Us (2008), Stelmanis said she knows not to take the press frenzy too seriously.
“I just try not to really think about any of it because I think that it could make us go crazy,” she laughed.
Austra marks an evolution that took place in her career after touring solo for three years, Stelmanis said. Former Galaxy bandmate Maya Postepski stuck with Stelmanis in her solo days, drumming on Join Us, and they gradually became more and more collaborative. Soon, former Spiral Beach bassist Dorian Wolf was added into the mix, and Austra was born.
But Stelmanis still feels in control of the project, she said. This becomes clear in their live show.
Stelmanis takes the stage separately, welcomed by a thunderous applause. Her earnest, captivating stage presence makes it hard to watch anybody else. She performs like she’s giving an aria — arms floating back and forth as though she’s directing an imaginary choir.
The core songwriting on Feel it Break was a fairly personal process, Stelmanis said. The somber tones of her solo material figure prominently on the album.
“I didn’t intend to make a dark album. It’s just kind of what comes naturally to me,” Stelmanis said. “I mean, I come from a background in opera where everything’s a tragedy.”
But the real difference between Feel it Break and Stelmanis’ solo stuff is hinted at right in the title. Stelmanis said she wanted a sound that was less cerebral than her solo material and would appeal more to a live audience.
“I feel like I’ve always made music that was meant to be listened to in your headphones . . . but with this album I really made an effort to sort of bring in the physical aspect of the music,” Stelmanis said.
With amped up bass, drum, and synth, songs like “Beat and the Pulse” and “The Future” are the kinds that literally vibrate in your bones.
“It’s music that people can engage with a little bit easier,” she said.
Austra will now head out on an international tour with stops in Central Canada, the United States, and Europe.
“Obviously we’d like to take the project as far as we can,” said Stelmanis. “We’re just going to work hard on tour, and hope for the best.”
Luckily for Stelmanis, the overwhelming consensus on Austra so far has been that the “best” is yet to come.
Austra performs at Ritual Nightclub May 27.
