Listen to Ikonika's remix of new single 'Utopia'

Listen to Ikonika's remix of new single 'Utopia'

Austra, the recording project led by Canadian vocalist and producer Katie Stelmanis, recently announced their third full length LP Future Politics, out January 20th via Domino. Today, Austra are pleased to share a remix by Ikonika for Future Politics’ lead single ‘Utopia’.

Stelmanis spoke to The Fader about the remix: “Ikonika is one of my favorite producers and I was super excited she wanted to do a remix. I love what she did with ‘Utopia’; the new chord progressions are really unexpected but come together so beautifully in the chorus.”

As did Ikonika, who said: “Good form is ubiquitous. We all wanna share our achievements via social media. We can easily be distracted by it. One lyric I had on loop making this remix was 'My work is valid, I can’t prove it, but I know'. I always thought of myself as online shy, but I learnt I just can't be bothered much.”

Additionally, Austra’s Katie Stelmanis has announced an exclusive solo show in London next week.

Thursday 10th November @ Kamio, London

Exclusive solo piano performance by Katie Stelmanis

+ Q&A with Sophie Wilkinson (The Debrief)

+ Maya Postepski (Austra) DJ set

Tickets here

Future Politics, Austra’s third, and most ambitious album to date, 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. “Not just hope in the future, but the idea that everyone is required to help write it, and the boundaries of what it can look like are both fascinating and endless. Its not about ‘being political,its about reaching beyond boundaries, in every single field.”

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 persons idea about the future is valid and relevant, especially the freaks and the queers and the outsiders.”

Future Politics is available to pre-order now on limited edition deluxe colored vinyl with exclusive signed art print, CD, and digital download.

Future Politics tracklist:

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
10. Deep Thought
11. 43