Olympia (Austra album)

Olympia
Studio album by Austra
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)
Genre Synthpop, dark wave, new wave, house, indietronica
Length 45:44
Label Paper Bag
Producer Austra, Mike Haliechuk
Austra chronology
Feel It Break
(2011)		 Olympia
(2013)
Singles from Olympia
  1. "Home"
    Released: March 7, 2013[1]
  2. "Painful Like"
    Released: May 30, 2013[2]

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.[3] Olympia has spawned two singles so far: "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".[4] Rebecca Nicholson of The Guardian calls it "clean, considered, with every detail in its place and a clear sense of its own identity."[5]

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.[6] 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".[7]

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".[8]

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[9]). This inspired the band to play live instruments, therefore Olympia has more organic and natural feel.[10]

Stelmanis also cites Portishead’s Third as an influence.[11]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic76/100[12]
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[13]
Pitchfork7.2/10[14]
Consequence of Sound[15]
The Guardian[5]
NME7/10[16]
Now[17]

Olympia received positive reviews from most music critics so far. The album currently holds a score of 75 out of 100 (indicating "generally favorable 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.[18]

The album was the most played record in 2013 across Canadian community radio, as tracked by the National Campus and Community Radio Association charting report, !earshot.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Austra. 

No. Title Length
1. "What We Done?"   5:00
2. "Forgive Me"   3:20
3. "Painful Like"   3:59
4. "Sleep"   4:32
5. "Home"   4:15
6. "Fire"   4:42
7. "I Don't Care (I'm a Man)"   1:11
8. "We Become"   4:22
9. "Reconcile"   3:31
10. "Annie (Oh Muse, You)"   3:47
11. "You Changed My Life"   3:11
12. "Hurt Me Now"   3:54
Total length:
 45:44

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Olympia.[20]

Austra
Additional personnel

  • Ben Baptie – mix engineering
  • Guy Davie – mastering
  • Tom Elmhirst – mixing
  • Mike Haliechuk – additional production
  • Alia Hamdon-O'Brien – flute
  • Ewan Kay – trombone
  • Romy Lightman – backing vocals
  • Sari Lightman – backing vocals
  • Bill Skibbe – engineering
  • Leon Taheny – engineering ("Forgive Me"); additional engineering (all tracks)
  • Damian Taylor – vocal engineering, vocal production
  • Joe Visciano – mixing assistant
  • Anna-Sophia Vukovich – violin
  • Norman Wong – photography
  • Ryan Wonsiak – keyboards, saxophone

Charts

Chart (2013) Peak
position
Austrian Albums Chart[21] 42
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[22] 167
German Albums Chart[23] 73
Irish Independent Albums Chart[24] 20
Swiss Albums Chart[25] 93
UK Albums Chart[26] 183
UK Indie Albums Chart[27] 37
US Dance/Electronic Albums[28] 14
US Heatseekers Albums[29] 9

References

  1. ↑ "Home – Single by Austra". iTunes Store Canada. Apple. Retrieved June 4, 2013.
  2. ↑ "Painful Like – Single by Austra". iTunes Store Canada. Apple. Retrieved June 4, 2013.
  3. ↑ "Olympia". Domino. Retrieved June 4, 2013.
  4. ↑ "First Listen: Austra, 'Olympia'". NPR. Retrieved June 13, 2013.
  5. 1 2 Nicholson, Rebecca (June 13, 2013). "Austra: Olympia – review". The Guardian (London). Retrieved June 13, 2013.
  6. ↑ "Austra On New Album Olympia And Avoiding The Sophomore Slump". Stereogum. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  7. ↑ "Austra Mounts Olympia". Interview. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Austra Interview - with Katie Stelmanis". About.com. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  9. ↑ Sirisuk, J.L. (June 21, 2013). "The Beat and the Groove: Interview with AUSTRA's Katie Stelmanis". The Huffington Post. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  10. ↑ "Q&A: Austra". musicOMH. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  11. ↑ "Austra interview". 7digital. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  12. ↑ "Olympia Reviews - Metacritic". Metacritic. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  13. ↑ "Olympia - Austra : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards : AllMusic". Allmusic. Retrieved June 17, 2013.
  14. ↑ St. Asaph, Katherine (2013-06-19). "Pitchfork review". Pitchfork.com. Retrieved 2013-06-24.
  15. ↑ Manning, Erin (Jun 21, 2013). "Album Review: Austra - Olympia". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved Jun 20, 2013.
  16. ↑ "NME Album Reviews - Austra - 'Olympia' - NME.COM". NME. Retrieved June 17, 2013.
  17. ↑ Trapunski, Richard (2013-06-20). "Austra - Olympia". NOW Magazine. Retrieved 2013-07-12.
  18. ↑ "Polaris Music Prize announces 2014 long list". Aux, June 19, 2014.
  19. ↑ "Olympia by Austra". iTunes Store Canada. Apple. Retrieved June 24, 2013.
  20. ↑ Olympia (CD liner notes). Austra. Paper Bag Records. 2013. PAPER078.
  21. ↑ "Austra – Olympia" (in German). austriancharts.at. Hung Medien. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
  22. ↑ "Austra – Olympia" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved June 24, 2013.
  23. ↑ "Austra, Olympia" (in German). charts.de. Media Control. Retrieved June 24, 2013.
  24. ↑ "Top 20 Indie Individual Artist Albums". Irish Recorded Music Association. June 20, 2013. Archived from the original on June 27, 2013. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
  25. ↑ "Austra – Olympia". swisscharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved June 25, 2013.
  26. ↑ "CHART: CLUK Update 29.06.2013 (wk25)". The Zobbel Website. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  27. ↑ "2013 Top 40 Independent Albums Archive". Official Charts Company. June 29, 2013. Retrieved June 24, 2013.
  28. ↑ "Dance/Electronic Albums : Jul 06, 2013". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
  29. ↑ "Heatseekers Albums : Jul 06, 2013". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
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