Katie Stelmanis, the founder and creative force behind Austra, has been luring listeners into her darkwave-driven electro-pop world for nearly two decades. Her weighted melodic phrasing and distinct bel canto vocals unfurl into ethereal atmospherics that gesture toward a haunted past while wryly tethering the music to a lyrical present.
Across Austra’s entire catalog, Stelmanis’ voice has operated as an ever-evolving instrument — one capable of shaping both mood and structure. Serving as a baseline and infinite source of creativity, her vocals move fluidly through evocative and emotionally charged compositions. During the creation of her most recent release, Chin Up Buttercup (2025), that sensibility became the gravitational pull of the project.
After sifting through a wealth of written material reflecting on a recent past filled with heartache and redemption, Stelmanis entered a close collaborative songwriting process with co-producer Kieran Adams, known for his work with The Weather Station and U.S. Girls. What emerged was a series of serendipitous sessions during which the pair discovered how her voice — captured in various states of tension and release and quiet strength — could guide both composition and production. These moments ultimately formed the emotional architecture of each track on the ten-song release.
The Production:
Chin Up Buttercup began as an ongoing form of acoustic experimentation, unfolding across the pair’s respective Toronto-based recording spaces. “Basically, Kieran sent me a bunch of dance music for feedback on his Vibrant Matter project, and I really loved what I heard,” Stelmanis recalls, adding that the energy of those early exchanges resonated deeply and ultimately bridged a creative gap. “I was going through a period of not feeling inspired and trying to find a way to get back into making music; I suggested that we start meeting up every couple of weeks with no expectation and no specific goals in mind — just to jam.”
The impromptu in-person and virtual get-togethers quickly transformed into a casual demoing and production process where ideas were bandied back and forth with ease. What soon surfaced was Stelmanis’ desire to sing and create vocal soundscapes in an unconventional manner. “I found with this record in particular I was really interested in creating certain kinds of tones with my voice. At weird points, it was as though I was barely singing at all, almost like talking with nearly inaudible whispers.” While she could capture these tonalities on a phone or any on-the-go device with voice memos, the actual art of recording alongside additional musical elements proved to be more challenging than she initially thought. “I think in the demos, that softer style comes out naturally or intuitively, but when you actually record or track it in a formal fashion, it's hard to emulate. I spent a long time trying to sing as if I was trying to record a voice note, and I didn't want anyone to really hear me. That was my goal.”
This predicament became particularly apparent on “Fallen Cloud,” where Stelmanis’ voice embodied an otherworldly quality in the chorus that was juxtaposed against a more weighted atmosphere and upbeat dance rhythm constructed by Adams. “The recording technique for the entirety of that track was crazy because, if you hear it in its final form, the effort isn’t readily apparent —there was a lot going on to get there.” The result is a track whose emotional impact conceals the complexity of its construction.
Stelmanis and Adams further detail the trials of recording her full register and range, as well as the recording techniques they discovered and used along the way. “I like to layer vocals a lot, but when you're duplicating layers of your own voice, you can run into phase problems.” Stelmanis explains, “Voices in a choir are all distinct, separate, but if you are continually layering your voice, it can create all sorts of problems.” To counteract these glitches, the pair leaned on effects. Adams explains, “We used Devastor 2, a distortion unit, on literally everything. It adds crunch, grit, and detailed texture.” Incorporating this plugin allowed layered vocals to occupy distinct spaces without clashing.
Deciding what instrumentation and elements worked best alongside Stelmanis’ vocals was also an integral part of their recording process. Reverb, used with restraint, shaped Chin Up Buttercup’s soundscapes, giving each track its own space to grow. As Stelmanis notes, “Valhalla [DSP] is a great starting point for crafting epic or cavernous sounds.” The result is music that feels expansive yet intimate, immersing listeners fully within the performance, allowing them to effortlessly move along with her lyrics.
Ultimately, Chin Up Buttercup is a collaboration that embraces experimentation and the problem-solving inherent in the recording process. For Stelmanis and Adams, it quietly revealed each song’s compositional strengths, which elucidated the harmonic and melodic qualities of Stelmanis’ voice. The result is a cohesive collection where her voice guides the listener through her sonic world.
Austra photo by Lamia Karic
