STACK January 2017 Issue 147

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The film soundtracks of Red
Dog and the recently released
prequel Red Dog: True Blue collect
together a swathe of timeless
Aussie rock classics (think The
Easybeats, Sherbet, Stevie
Wright and Daddy Cool) with the
panoramic and truly roadtrip-worthy
original score of award-winning
Australian composer Cezary
Skubiszewski. Both soundtracks
are available in JB right now, and
for a short time purchase includes
a limited edition calendar featuring
priceless photos of the pooch
himself – a must-have item for
every true blue Red Dog fan.
AUSTRA
RED DOG
TRUE BLUE
INTERVIEW
visit
04 JANUARY 2017
MUSIC NEWS
continued
FACTOID: The engineering and production credits on Austra's album Future Politics all belong to women: "It wasn’t intentional for it to be all women, but I had to fight to keep it that way. I didn't want to give that up."
Red Dog and Red Dog: True Blue
are out now via Decca/Universal.
T o use the word ‘politics’ in your
album title is a bold move, but Katie
Stelmanis, AKA the woman behind
Canadian electronic project Austra,
doesn’t eschew its connotations or
hide her goal of prompting listeners
to think about what it means. “It was
definitely intentional,” she says. “What
I’m saying when I say ‘future politics’
is imagining the world and organising society in
a long-form way.” The songwriter and producer
sees the corporeal community of music as a
radical thing, which can tie people together in
meaningful ways. “I think the dance floor is
this kind of sensory overload where people
become more emotionally open and aware,”
she explains. “One of the first inspirations
I had for the record was the band Massive
Attack. I saw them by accident; we played a
festival with them and their shows are pretty
overtly political. They have all these newspaper
headlines in the background throughout the
whole thing. There’s just something
about receiving that information while
listening to beautiful music that it
makes it easier to want to relate, or
want to understand.”
If there was a word that could
crystallise the feeling of Future Politics’
tracks it would be ‘hope’, and it comes
out in different ways. Stand-out
Beyond A Mortal has very Kid A-like
opening – childlike and electronic like a
baby robot, with short high key notes
rippling and pulsing across the air. To
create it, Stelmanis sifted through a pile of very
legit material. “I got a bunch of free samples
from NASA,” she explains. “That intro was
recorded in space! I think it’s noise from Mars,
and rockets taking off… I’m always looking
for really good white noise samples.” Utopia
contains some incredibly delicate harmonies,
which the musician created “on the fly” – she’s
not as disciplined as their intricacy might
suggest. “I never warm up, ever,” she says a
little bashfully. “I [see] other artists do it, and I
have a lot of respect for them. I kind of warm up
on stage. For example, I could never sing Lose
It in the first three songs. I try and make it so
the first few songs are easier to get into, and by
the end of the set I can kind of do anything."
Future
Politics
by Austra is out
January 20 via
Domino.
THE McCLYMONTS
Q1/ Sam has said that
telling your own personal
stories within your tracks
is very important – do you
think that country music
in particular is inclined to
default to common themes
(trucks, girls whiskey) or is
that a misconception?
I think it's just a perception
that that is what country music
is. The country I know has
always gone a lot deeper...
Yes, there are songs about [those things].
but the country music I know and write
about goes past that. We write about our
own experiences, straight from the heart,
and hope that our stories connect with the
audience by them feeling we wrote the
song for them.
Mollie McClymont chats to STACK about the very personal
new album by herself and her sisters, Endless.
Q2/ The idea that Andy
Mak has such a great
connection with you guys
because he understands
the sibling dynamic
(particularly in making
music) was super cool. Do
you think it’s something to
do with trust and/or being
able to be far more honest
than you might otherwise
be with somebody else?
You need to feel 100%
comfortable with your producer and
collaborator. Andy is a person we had an
immediate connection with. He is insanely
talented, the fact he makes music with
his brother, the way he writes songs, finds
different harmonies all make us drawn
to him. When you are comfortable with
someone, that's when you can open up
and all the honesty comes out.
Q3/ Tell us about working with
Ronan Keating – did you present him
with the finished track (When We Say
It’s Forever) or did he contribute any
ideas?
When sitting down to write this song,
Brooke, Andy and Tom knew they wanted
Endless
by The
McClymonts is
out January 13
via Universal.
to write a duet. When the track was
finished we all sat down and discussed
who we could hear singing it with
us, and Ronan was number one. We
thought it would suit his vocal, and
we had recorded with him before so
we knew he would put his magic on
the song. He put his own spin on the
song and made it his own, which we
couldn't have been happier about.
Read the full
interview