Cher, ABBA & Björk: Canadian singer-songwriter and composer Austra shares the inspirations behind her forthcoming album, Chin Up Buttercup.
For the past decade, Austra – alias of classically trained musician and operatic singer Katie Stelmanis – has been re-shifting pop’s boundaries to fulfil her own creative ambitions. As progressive and potent as ever, her new fifth studio album is set to drop next week (14th November) via Domino Records.
Tastefully entitled Chin Up Buttercup, the body of work sees the Canadian vocalist and producer steer deeper into heartache and the complexity of emotionality, pursuing around hazy, immersive soundscapes. Fearlessly forward-thinking, it’s yet another triumph for the sonic auteur who finds creativity wherever she looks.
Rounding up the tracks that inspired the record, Austra shares her On Repeat for Wonderland.
Listen to the latest singles…
Austra is On Repeat…
Cher – “Believe“
I love the moment of a song transitioning from “joke” to “genius.” Having been around 12 when this came out, I thought it was extremely cringe at the time and hated the auto-tune. It was the kind of thing I’d hear on the radio and plug my ears. However, at some point my perception of this track changed. I started DJing it in 2020 after going through a bad breakup and now whenever I hear it, it fills me with joy and I can’t help loudly singing along. Maybe it’s because I have better taste in music now than when I was 12. Or maybe it’s because the lyrics speak to me in a different way. But either way this song is indisputably genius and I hope it gets played at my funeral.
Madonna – “The Power of Goodbye“
Ray of Light is another album I thought was absolutely terrible when it first came out and now I think it’s genius. I lumped it in with a lot of commercial pop music of that era without paying attention to the intricacies that make this album great. It was produced by Willian Orbit who was a relatively unknown producer when Madonna asked him to collaborate. They ended up making the whole thing together over a period of around 4 months, which is incredibly short for a pop album of this scale. The whole thing was made using a couple drum machines, a Juno 106 and a Korg MS-20. I’ve read interviews with Orbit about his experience working with Madonna and he always praises her for her unparalleled artistry. He talks about how she made a very specific point of making sure not to “over-cook” anything they were working on, and that’s why Ray of Light feels so free, loose, and imperfect. In an era of highly-polished pop, this was a revolutionary approach. I can’t really choose a song but I decided on the Power of Goodbye because I used to cover it back in 2015 or so at the request of my former gay keyboard player Ryan, who understood the whole time the album was perfect. (Gay is important because the gays always knew).
Aya – “The Only Solution I have Found is to Simply Jump Higher“
Aya is one of my favourite producers at the moment and I’ve listened to this song in particular from her first record dozens of times. I was so transfixed by the synths I became sort of obsessed with learning how she made it, which was actually using only the Native Instruments plug-in Massive X. I found that very cool because it’s a pretty common soft-synth and somewhat affordable, though I will not say it is particularly easy to use. She also recommended a few bit-crusher (Hello Devastor 2) plugins which I subsequently bought and became pretty addicted to. So I can confidently say without hearing Aya’s brilliant record my extremely different sounding album would not sound the same as it does without Aya’s influence.
Vangelis – Blade Runner (Music from the original soundtrack) – “Rachel’s Song“
While making Chin Up Buttercup I got really into film scores after being invited to score an old friend’s Television Series and Feature film for CBC Canada. I’d never scored before and was really nervous about it so started collecting some well-known scores to listen to for inspiration. Vangelis’ Score for Blade Runner was one of them. It’s a wonderful balance of synthesizers and acoustic instruments with classical/folk singing that feels free, completely off the grid and eerie. I love Rachel’s song which is sung by the uncredited Mary Hopkin who is a Welsh folk singer.
Project Sound – “Sweet in the Morning“
I’m pulling this song from the Octo Octa and Eris Drew Fabric Presents Album. I’m choosing this track because I DJ it all the time, and when I do, I’m very conscious of how it ended up in my record collection, that is via the meticulously curated collection of Octo Octa and Eris Drew. I love this album because not only does it feature some of my favourite original tracks by the two of them, it also features some late 90s house music selections that the couple often feature in their electrifying, joyful, DJ sets. So it’s the best of both worlds: their own work, and a small sample of what it’s like to be transfixed by two of the most important house music DJs of the moment. Octo Octa and Eris Drew are a trans couple whose love and optimism radiates through all their musical ventures, a radiance we need urgently today.
ABBA – “Should I Laugh or Cry“
When my co-producer Kieran and I started working on music together, we shared a lot of songs back and forth and I was really surprised to learn about his love of folk music and traditional song writing. He played me this song by ABBA which I’d never heard before and I became transfixed. It’s not quite as bubbly as their more popular work but there is something devastating about the opening melody I cannot get enough of. It feels like a masterclass in melody writing and chord structures while feeling completely effortless. I wish ABBA had made dozens more records and ventured even deeper into this style of music making but I hear the beginnings of a weirdness we’re just starting to scratch the surface of with this track.
YuSu + Frances Inferno Orchestra + YUF-O – “Do You Ever D.R.E.A.M. Of Flying”
This is from the collaborative album You Eff Oh by the artists above. I’m aware of it because I love Yusu, she is one of the most interesting producers and composers in Canada at the moment. This album was released in 2021 and I listened to it excessively throughout lockdown. I play this track a lot when I DJ because it brings a psychedelic other-worldliness to the dance floor that I think is exactly what is often needed at a rave. It freaks people out and makes me feel like I’m DJing from a space ship, which is the ultimate dream, of course.
Sally Oldfield – “Blue Water”
Sally is a British musician who released 15 records throughout the 1970s and 80s. My co-producer Kieran introduced me to her work via this song, Blue Water, which is spectacularly beautiful. It’s sort of an onomatopoeia as music because it sounds like blue water dancing on blue flowers somewhere near the blue ocean. I realized later that I was already familiar with her brother’s work, Mike Oldfield, who is a prolific composer that has influenced my work for over 2 decades. Funnily enough, I was introduced to his work after a fan compared my early recordings to his Incantations which Sally also sings on. It must be quite something to share a rich musical life with a sibling – I can’t imagine it, but to have someone effortlessly share the social aspect of music with is extremely appealing.
Olivia Rodrigo – “drivers license”
What does it mean when you are in your mid-thirties and identifying so thoroughly with a melodramatic breakup song written by a 17-year-old? I am not sure, but that was me when this song came out. I don’t know why people associate breakup grief with being a teenager but from my experience it is ageless. It can happen at any time at any age and there is no amount of emotional maturity that can prevent.
Tirzah – “Devotion”
Sometimes I wonder if my heartbreak was really for a person or for a city. I love London, and this song reminds me of it more than any other. It feels damp and cold but also full of love and friendship and community. London to me is enviable because of its music. Artists are connected and collaborating through this web of creativity that grows and sweats and spreads and catches stray flies which only add to the complexity. It’s an ecosystem that doesn’t really exist anywhere else in the same way. I will always be jealous of London, feeling like a fly that can’t quite get caught in the intricate web.
Björk – “Black Lake”
Speaking of breakup songs, Black Lake is the high-art version of teenage melodrama. It’s the most accurate sonic depiction of grief I’ve ever heard. Grief doesn’t always manifest as crying and yelling; it also sounds like vast moments of nothingness. Black Lake is a song where each section is divided by an uncomfortably long, sustained note that embodies a feeling of despair in a way no other song has achieved so accurately. She wrote this album shortly after the dissolution of her marriage, and I remember the immediacy and vulnerability of the record caught people off guard. It must have felt very scary to be that vulnerable. But somehow the strength and impact of this album make it somewhat easier for me to do, too.
