Length 45:44 Olympia(2013) Future Politics(2017) Release date 17 June 2013 | ||
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Released June 17, 2013 (2013-06-17) Recorded Candle Recording (Toronto, Ontario); Electrical Audio, Soma Electronic Music Studios (Chicago, Illinois); Golden Ratio (Montreal, Quebec); Key Club Recording (Benton Harbor, Michigan) Genres Electropop, Dark wave, New wave, House music Similar Feel It Break, Upstairs at Eric's, Tomorrow's Harvest, Kveikur, The Bones of What You Belie | ||
Olympia is the second studio album by Canadian electronic music band Austra, released in Canada on June 18, 2013 by Paper Bag Records. It was also released in the United States on June 18, 2013 and a day before in rest of the world by Domino. Olympia has spawned two singles: "Home" and "Painful Like". Stephen Thompson of NPR describes the album as having a more "bombastic throb" compared to its predecessor, but still showcasing lead singer Katie Stelmanis's "classically trained ... massive voice". Rebecca Nicholson of The Guardian calls it "clean, considered, with every detail in its place and a clear sense of its own identity."
Contents
- Austra what we done
- Background and development
- Critical reception
- Track listing
- Personnel
- Songs
- References
Austra what we done
Background and development
In an interview for the music blog Stereogum, Stelmanis said that she began writing Olympia while still touring with the band's previous record Feel It Break. She notes that writing Olympia took about a year, and the actual recording, in the studio in Michigan, 4–5 weeks. Her vocals were recorded in Montreal with Damian Taylor and then sent to be mixed to Tom Elmhirst. Stelmanis told Interview magazine that the album is titled after the newborn child of the owners of the studio where they recorded, where Austra was "the first band into the studio after the baby was born".
She also told Stereogum that the band was more focused on the quality of the sound than before and that every song on Olympia "was hand-picked in a very thoughtful way." On various occasions she noted that Olympia was a more collaborative record than its predecessor, which, in her own words, "was pretty much a bedroom project".
Stelmanis states that the primary inspiration for Olympia were the "early house music tracks" like "Chicago house and Detroit" and Marshall Jefferson's song "Move Your Body" in particular to which Stelmanis was listening to a lot. She was inspired by the fact that such music, according to her, was created without any electronic instruments and therefore actually played (as opposed to computer-generated music where computers generate the sounds of the composition - which was also the case with their previous album Feel It Break). This inspired the band to play live instruments, therefore Olympia has more organic and natural feel.
Stelmanis also cites Portishead’s Third as an influence.
Critical reception
Olympia received positive reviews based on 23 critical reviews, according to the music review aggregator Metacritic.
The album was a longlisted nominee for the 2014 Polaris Music Prize.
Track listing
All tracks written by Austra.
Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Olympia.
Songs
1What We Done?5:02
2Forgive Me3:20
3Painful Like4:00