REVIEWSAustra, ‘'Feel It Break’

7

• SPIN Rating:7 of 10

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Release Date: May 17, 2011
Label: Domino

Despite taking the name of the Latvian goddess of light, this Canadian trio craft dark and turbid moods. And while singer Katie Stelmanis' roots connect to fellow Canucks Owen Pallett and Fucked Up, her band's seedy synth pop more often recalls Kate Bush's dramatic art songs and the Knife's ghostly techno-pop (and more specifically, the soured vowels of frontwoman Karin Andersson). But from surging, operatic opener "Darken Her Horse" to closing piano ballad "Lose It," Stelmanis' voice and vision are mostly her own.