Austra at The Button Factory | Review

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Austra at the Button Factory, Dublin 22nd November 2013

There must be something in the water in Canada these days. When they’re not producing a Bublé or Bieber, there’s a seemingly endless stream of synthpop bands with female lead vocals coming out of the woodwork. Where Grimes and Purity Ring have impressed on these shores in the not too distant past, tonight it is the job of DIANA and Austra to show their wares.

DIANA are first up on the Button Factory stage and immediately impress. Their light show – strangely for a support band, they get full use of the Button Factory’s impressive rigging – fits perfectly with their 80s influenced electro sound. Upbeat, poppy tunes added to the voice of Carmen Elle, a willingness to experiment and a liberal dose of saxophone makes for an impressive set to get the audience in the mood early on.

But it’s Austra that brought the crowd and, by the time they take to the stage at 9.30, the venue is full. And right from the start the Toronto natives are on form. What We Done?, the opening track from this year’s ‘Olympia’ album, kicks off the show. The haunting sound of the album version is reproduced almost seamlessly live, just the thumping bass giving it a more present feel.

Katie Stelmanis’ voice is truly a wonder – she had opera training as a child – and the band don’t make the mistake of hiding the sound, and her unerring ability to hold a note, behind the instrumental mix. She bounces around the stage like she’s doing some form of interpretive dance, all the while hitting every note perfectly. The crowd mirror her energy, bopping along to the early up-tempo tracks but any attempts to mirror her voice end in torturous failure.

Stelmanis says almost nothing between the songs but is so impressive as a performer that she rightly remains the subject of idolisation as the band play through their 80s influenced synthpop. As well as the 80s feel – it’s almost inescapable in synth-heavy music – there are disco vibes, see Home, and a bit of 90s dance, as evidenced on Reconcile, thrown into the mix.

The high point comes with the one-two punch of ‘Feel it Break’ singles Lose It and Beat and the Pulse. The former is almost a sing along chorus although, when the crowd attempt to do so, the results are less than aesthetic; if dogs in the Temple Bar area went crazy for a period on Friday night, we have a good idea why.

Beat and the Pulse is the top of the night though. Its big, exhilarating sound gets the audience jumping more than at any other time on the night, and rightly so. It goes almost industrial – Stelmanis cites Nine Inch Nails as an influence after all – but almost no one notices. Throw in Till Linderman’s gravelly vocals and German lyrics though, and you’d be expecting an entirely different crowd at the show.

The band exit and return almost immediately for an encore. The crowd maintain some latent enthusiasm for the final three songs, but the thrill of what’s gone before can’t be repeated. That said, it doesn’t serve to take away from what’s gone before.

Keep on sending these bands out Canada, we’ll keep our doors open to them.