WATCH AND SHARE "FUTURE POLITICS" HERE
NEW ALBUM, FUTURE POLITICS, OUT JANUARY 20
EUROPEAN TOUR ANNOUNCED FOR SPRING 2017
Photo Credit: Renata Raksha
Our current climate leaves many feeling apathetic but despair can act as a compass – the less you can ignore, the more you have to act.
Having previously shared the video for first single "Utopia", Austra are pleased to reveal the video for new track "Future Politics", taken from the forthcoming album of the same name to be released on January 20 via Pink Fizz Records.
Katie Stelmanis and director Allie Avital on the video:
"'Future Politics' is the breaking down of paradigms. In this video, we wanted to explore what a world might look like if our values were transformed: instead of glorifying labor, maybe we could learn to glorify the act of doing absolutely nothing."
WATCH AND SHARE "FUTURE POLITICS" HERE
Austra’s third LP is the Canadian band’s most ambitious record to date and calls for radical hope: “a commitment to replace the approaching dystopia,” says Katie Stelmanis, who leads Austra with the support of Maya Postepski (Princess Century, TR/ST), Dorian Wolf, and Ryan Wonsiak.
Austra will perform in Toronto on January 20 at The Mod Club and in Montreal on January 21 at the Fairmount Theatre as part of a month long North American tour. Additionally, Austra have confirmed European tour dates for 2017 including London’s Convergence Festival.
AUSTRA TOUR DATES
January 20 | Mod Club | Toronto, ON
January 21 | Fairmont Theatre | Montreal, QC
January 24 | The Sinclair | Boston, MA
January 26 | Warsaw | Brooklyn, NY
January 27 | Union Transfer | Philadelphia, PA
January 28 | Black Cat | Washington, DC
January 31 | Exit/In | Nashville, TN *
February 1 | Terminal West | Atlanta, GA *
February 2 | Gasa Gasa | New Orleans, LA *
February 3 | Trees | Dallas, TX *
February 4 | Mohawk | Austin, TX *
February 5 | Lowbrow Palace | El Paso, TX *
February 7 | Valley bar | Phoenix, AZ *
February 8 | Casbah | San Diego, CA *
February 9 | El Rey Theater | Los Angeles, CA *
February 11 | Mezzanine | San Francisco, CA *
February 13 | Holocene | Portland, OR *
February 14 | The Crocodile | Seattle, WA *
February 17 | Triple Rock Social Club | Minneapolis, MN *
February 18 | Thalia Hall | Chicago, IL *
February 19 | Magic Stick | Detroit, MI *
March 4 | Paradiso | Amsterdam, Netherlands
March 6 | Uebel & Gefährlich | Hamburg, Germany
March 7 | NIEBO | Warsaw, Poland
March 8 | Astra | Berlin, Germany
March 9 | Muffatwerk (Ampere) | Munich, Germany
March 10 | Conne Island | Leipzig, Germany
March 11 | Posthof | Linz, Austria
March 12 | WUK | Vienna, Austria
March 15 | Biko Club | Milan, Italy
March 16 | Les Docks | Lausanne, Switzerland
March 17 | Dampfzentrale | Bern, Switzerland
March 18 | Gloria Theater | Cologne, Germany
March 21 | Patterns | Brighton, UK
March 22 | Village Underground (Convergence) | London, UK
March 23 | Summerhall | Edinburgh, UK
March 24 | Deaf Institute | Manchester, UK
March 25 | The Button Factory | Dublin, Ireland
* w/ The Range
"Future Politics" Video Still
Future Politics is a collection of urgent, disciplined anthems for dancefloors and headphones alike, that asks each of us to remember that apocalypse is not an inevitability, but the product of human decision-making. It aims for a world without borders, where human compassion and curiosity drive technological innovation rather than profit, where the necessity of labour is replaced with time for creativity and personal growth, and the terror and destruction wrought by colonialism and white supremacy is recognized as a dark age in human history. The album is radicalism distilled: to galvanic beats, gorgeous, kinetic melodies, and the vulnerable majesty of Stelmanis’s voice.
Inspired by her time living in two cities – Montreal and Mexico City – and propelled by economic and philosophical texts she was reading throughout the album’s creation, Stelmanis was driven to face the world’s ailments with positivity, purpose, and engagement, rather than detachment or despair. Inspiration also came from European club culture - Objekt, Peter Van Hoesen, Lena Willikens as well as the likes of Massive Attack; in all, artists who understand the dancefloor as a source of radical ideas and radical joy.
Change, Rebecca Solnit (author, activist, environmentalist and editor at Harper’s Magazine) writes, comes from “writers, scholars, public intellectuals, social activists, and participants in social media”. Stelmanis adds “artists, club scenes, parties, teenagers, ghettoes” to that list -“every single person’s idea about the future is valid and relevant, especially the freaks and the queers and the outsiders.”
STREAM "UTOPIA" (IKONIKA REMIX) HERE
WATCH AND SHARE "UTOPIA" HERE
Future Politics is available to pre-order now on limited edition deluxe colored vinyl with exclusive signed art print, CD, and digital download.