Photo Credit: Sharon Alagna

The Katie Stelmanis-led recording project Austra has announced its third LP, slated for release in early 2017. Titled Future Politics, the record will be released by Domino on January 20, 2017. In addition to the album announcement, Austra has released a chilling new video for the first single “Utopia.”

The songs begins with the strumming of what sounds like a harp before fading completely out of the mix. The song then transitions into a pulsating electronic beat with just enough of a sinister edge to keep it from full-blown dance pop status. The accompanying video takes the dark tones of the song to another level, juxtaposing a stark, mostly-empty room with Stelmanis calmly pacing around in a simple wardrobe with bizarre imagery such as maggots, an African tribal mask and a surprising star turn by Amazon’s Alexa device. In the end it turns out Stelmanis is held hostage by the device. The video is directed by THAT GO, and he had this to say about the video: “[It] is more near-future than distant-future, with recognizable technology and modern protein sources.”

The futuristic vibe of the video fits with the vision of Future Politics. Stelmanis explains the record deals with the need to replace the oncoming dystopia with something different. The album is inspired both by her living in two very different North American cities during its creation – Montreal and Mexico City, but also her readings of economic and philosophical texts. The result is promised to be a collection of songs that are apt for the dance floor as they are for late-night headphone reading sessions.

The album’s artwork was shot by Renata Raksha at Luis Barragan’s Cuadra San Cristobal in La Ciudad de Mexico, adding to the unique aesthetic of the LP,

Future Politics:
1. We Were Alive
2. Future Politics
3. Utopia
4. I’m A Monster
5. I Love You More Than You Love Yourself
6. Angel In Your Eye
7. Freepower
8. Gaia
9. Beyond A Mortal