Olympia (Austra album)

Olympia is the second studio album by Canadian electronic music band Austra. It was released on June 17, 2013, by Domino.[6] Olympia spawned three singles: "Home", "Painful Like" and "Forgive Me". The album received largely positive reviews from critics, who said that it had more "bombastic throb" compared to its predecessor while still showcasing lead singer Katie Stelmanis's "classically trained, massive voice",[7] adding that it was "clean, considered, with every detail in its place and a clear sense of its own identity."[8]

Olympia
Studio album by
Austra
ReleasedJune 17, 2013 (2013-06-17)
Studio
Genre
Length45:44
LabelDomino
Producer
  • Austra
  • Mike Haliechuk
Austra chronology
Feel It Break
(2011)		 Olympia
(2013)		 Future Politics
(2017)
Singles from Olympia
  1. "Home"
    Released: March 7, 2013[3]
  2. "Painful Like"
    Released: May 30, 2013[4]
  3. "Forgive Me"
    Released: November 26, 2013[5]

Background and development

In an interview for the music blog Stereogum, Stelmanis said that she began writing Olympia while still touring in support of the band's debut studio album, Feel It Break.[9] According to her, writing Olympia took about a year, and the actual recording, in the studio in Michigan, four to five weeks. Her vocals were recorded in Montreal with Damian Taylor and then sent to be mixed to Tom Elmhirst. Stelmanis told Interview magazine that the album is titled after the newborn child of the owners of the studio where they recorded, where Austra was "the first band into the studio after the baby was born".[10]

She also told Stereogum that the band was more focused on the quality of the sound than before and that every song on Olympia "was hand-picked in a very thoughtful way."[9] On various occasions she noted that Olympia was a more collaborative record than its predecessor, which, in her own words, "was pretty much a bedroom project".[11]

Stelmanis states that the primary inspiration for Olympia were the "early house music tracks" like "Chicago house and Detroit" and Marshall Jefferson's song "Move Your Body" in particular to which Stelmanis was listening to a lot. She was inspired by the fact that such music, according to her, was created without any electronic instruments and therefore actually played (as opposed to computer-generated music where computers generate the sounds of the composition – which was also the case with their previous album Feel It Break[12]). This inspired the band to play live instruments, therefore Olympia has a more organic and natural feel.[13]

Stelmanis also cited Portishead's Third as an influence.[14]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?7.5/10[15]
Metacritic76/100[16]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[17]
Clash8/10[18]
Consequence of Sound[2]
Drowned in Sound8/10[19]
Exclaim!9/10[20]
The Guardian[8]
NME7/10[21]
Now[22]
Paste7.0/10[23]
Pitchfork7.2/10[1]

Olympia received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 76, based on 26 reviews.[16]

The album was a longlisted nominee for the 2014 Polaris Music Prize.[24]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Austra.

No.TitleLength
1."What We Done?"5:00
2."Forgive Me"3:20
3."Painful Like"3:59
4."Sleep"4:32
5."Home"4:15
6."Fire"4:42
7."I Don't Care (I'm a Man)"1:11
8."We Become"4:22
9."Reconcile"3:31
10."Annie (Oh Muse, You)"3:47
11."You Changed My Life"3:11
12."Hurt Me Now"3:54
Total length:45:44
iTunes Store bonus track[25]
No.TitleLength
13."Mayan Drums" (with Gina X)3:41
Total length:49:25

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Olympia.[26]

Austra

Additional musicians
  • Romy Lightman – backing vocals
  • Sari Lightman – backing vocals
  • Ryan Wonsiak – saxophone, keyboards
  • Alia Hamdon-O'Brien – flute
  • Anna-Sophia Vukovich – violin
  • Ewan Kay – trombone

Technical
  • Austra – production
  • Mike Haliechuk – additional production
  • Bill Skibbe – recording (tracks 1, 3–12)
  • Leon Taheny – recording (track 2); additional recording (all tracks)
  • Damian Taylor – vocal production, vocal recording
  • Tom Elmhirst – mixing
  • Ben Baptie – mix engineering
  • Joe Visciano – mixing assistance
  • Guy Davie – mastering

Artwork
  • Norman Wong – all photography

Charts
Chart (2013) Peak
position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[27] 42
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[28] 167
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[29] 73
Irish Independent Albums (IRMA)[30] 20
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[31] 93
UK Albums (OCC)[32] 183
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[33] 37
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[34] 9
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[35] 48
US Top Dance/Electronic Albums (Billboard)[36] 14

Release history
Region Date Label Ref.
Various June 17, 2013 Domino [6]
Canada June 18, 2013 Paper Bag
United States Domino

Notes
  1. Except "Forgive Me"
  2. "Forgive Me"
  3. Vocal recording

References
  1. St. Asaph, Katherine (June 19, 2013). "Austra: Olympia". Pitchfork. Retrieved June 24, 2013.
  2. Manning, Erin (June 21, 2013). "Album Review: Austra – Olympia". Consequence of Sound. Archived from the original on September 20, 2013. Retrieved June 20, 2013.
  3. "Home by Austra". 7digital. United Kingdom. Archived from the original on June 15, 2013. Retrieved January 5, 2020.
  4. "Painful Like – Single by Austra". iTunes Store. Canada. Retrieved June 4, 2013.
  5. "Forgive Me – Single by Austra". Apple Music. Canada. Retrieved January 5, 2020.
  6. "Olympia". Domino. Retrieved June 4, 2013.
  7. Thompson, Stephen (June 9, 2013). "First Listen: Austra, 'Olympia'". NPR. Retrieved June 13, 2013.
  8. Nicholson, Rebecca (June 13, 2013). "Austra: Olympia – review". The Guardian. Retrieved June 13, 2013.
  9. Rachel, T. Cole (May 14, 2013). "Q&A: Austra On New Album Olympia And Avoiding The Sophomore Slump". Stereogum. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  10. Reese, Nathan (June 17, 2013). "Austra Mounts Olympia". Interview. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  11. Carew, Anthony (May 23, 2013). "Interview: Katie Stelmanis of Austra". About.com. Archived from the original on June 15, 2013. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  12. Sirisuk, J.L. (June 21, 2013). "The Beat and the Groove: Interview with AUSTRA's Katie Stelmanis". HuffPost. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  13. Young, Martyn (June 11, 2013). "Q&A: Austra". musicOMH. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  14. "Interview: Austra". 7digital. June 2013. Archived from the original on June 22, 2013. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  15. "Olympia by Austra reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved December 27, 2018.
  16. "Olympia by Austra Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  17. Phares, Heather. "Olympia – Austra". AllMusic. Retrieved June 17, 2013.
  18. Lanfear, Hannah (June 10, 2013). "Austra – Olympia". Clash. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
  19. Lukowski, Andrzej (June 10, 2013). "Album Review: Austra – Olympia". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
  20. Lau, Melody (June 18, 2013). "Austra – Olympia". Exclaim!. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
  21. Stevens, Jenny (June 17, 2013). "Austra – 'Olympia'". NME. Archived from the original on September 23, 2013. Retrieved June 17, 2013.
  22. Trapunski, Richard (June 20, 2013). "Austra – Olympia". Now. 32 (42). ISSN 0712-1326. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  23. Cosores, Philip (June 18, 2013). "Austra: Olympia". Paste. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
  24. Villeneuve, Nicole (June 19, 2014). "Polaris Music Prize announces 2014 long list". Aux. Archived from the original on September 15, 2015.
  25. "Olympia by Austra". iTunes Store. Canada. Retrieved June 24, 2013.
  26. Olympia (liner notes). Austra. Paper Bag Records. 2013. PAPER078.CS1 maint: others (link)
  27. "Austriancharts.at – Austra – Olympia" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
  28. "Ultratop.be – Austra – Olympia" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 24, 2013.
  29. "Offiziellecharts.de – Austra – Olympia" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  30. "Top 20 Indie Individual Artist Albums". Irish Recorded Music Association. June 20, 2013. Archived from the original on June 27, 2013. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
  31. "Swisscharts.com – Austra – Olympia". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 25, 2013.
  32. "Chart Log UK – Weekly Updates Sales 2013". Zobbel. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  33. "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 24, 2013.
  34. "Austra Chart History (Heatseekers Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  35. "Austra Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  36. "Austra Chart History (Top Dance/Electronic Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
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