INDIE WEEK
Two of Canada’s brightest acts roll into town
Next week, Edmonton welcomes two of Canada’s brightest indie acts. Fronted by powerhouse women, the band Austra and Lisa LeBlanc have been charming both critics and club crowds — nationwide and abroad — for years. Not yet household names, they’re more than deserving of a spin in your home, nevertheless.
Stylistically, they don’t have many similarities — a synth-pop band fronted by an opera-trained Toronto DJ, and an Acadian altfolk singer-songwriter who belts it out in both French and English.
But there’s a few things the acts do have in common — commanding vocalists, hooks you won’t be able to get out of your head, and, most importantly, they’re both worth staying out late for two nights in a row.
ALL ABOUT ...
Austra: Toronto’s Katie Stelmanis founded Austra in 2009, along with Maya Postepski, a member of her former band, Galaxy. The group performs as a four-piece, but the project is very much Stelmanis’s — she writes, composes, produces and engineers. Juxtaposing Stelmanis’s classically trained voice with her electronic compositions, Austra created a dance-influenced sound that immediately made waves. The band’s debut album, Feel It Break, was named top album of 2011 by New York magazine.
Lisa LeBlanc: New Brunswickborn, Montreal-based LeBlanc has released albums in both French and English (her latest has both). She’s an expert guitar and banjo player, and is ebullient with both instruments while her narrative songwriting is comparable with country music’s best storytellers. And while she’s definitely making feet stomp in this part of the country, she’s already huge in Quebec and on the East Coast.
SONG TO PUT ON REPEAT TODAY
Austra: I Love You More Than You Love Yourself from the group’s third studio album, 2017’s Future Politics. Stelmanis’s vocals are front and centre here. It’s a pop song, but you can tell she was once in the Canadian Children’s Opera Company. Meanwhile, an emo-’80s beat worthy of Lady Gaga pulses underneath, making you want to reach for your leg warmers.
Lisa LeBlanc: Dump the Guy ASAP from her latest album, Why You Wanna Leave, Runaway Queen?
Lyrically, LeBlanc’s a no-bull straight-shooter, and this wouldbe breakup ditty from a best friend’s perspective is entirely true to form. Are there any lyrics more relatable than, “I understand that you love him, and I respect that, but I kinda wanna punch him in the balls?”
On the chorus, LeBlanc croons over and over, “Wouldn’t it be lovely if you just dumped the guy, ASAP?” But the twangy track still manages a light, laid-back island vibe, courtesy of Hawaiian lap steel.
PLAY IT WHILE YOU’RE:
Austra: Hosting a Cinq a Sept. Future Politics is almost entirely upbeat, head-bob inducing without being overwhelmingly dance-y, and happy-sounding with considerable edge. Your guests will be able to hear each other talk, and then — at the end of the night — they’ll go, “Who have we been listening to!?”
Lisa LeBlanc: Road-tripping with old friends. With often-raucous tales of dating, love, being dumped and long-distance relationships, Runaway Queen was made for group singalongs.
POLARIS MOMENT
Both Austra and Lisa LeBlanc have been shortlisted for one of Canada’s top honours, the Polaris Music Prize — the nation’s annual critic’s award that bestows $50,000 upon the Canadian artist with the best album of the year. (Previous winners include Feist, Tanya Tagaq, Arcade Fire and Buffy Sainte-Marie.)
Austra was shortlisted for its first record, 2011’s Feel It Break, ultimately losing to Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs.
LeBlanc was shortlisted this year for Runaway Queen, eventually beat out on Sept. 18 by Lido Pimienta’s La Papessa.
SHOW INFORMATION
Austra plays the Needle Vinyl Tavern, 10524 Jasper Ave., Tuesday at 7 p.m. Tickets are $20.
Lisa LeBlanc plays 9910, 9910B 109 St., Wednesday at 9 p.m. Tickets are $15, $20 at the door.