AustraFriday, November 27, 8:00 p.m.

Before you go

• From the organizer's public calendar at tixr.com. Check there before you go.

About this event

Buy ticketsAustra, the pop project of vocalist and composer Katie Stelmanis, returns with her new album, Chin Up Buttercup. Stelmanis, a classically trained musician and opera devotee with four previous albums and a Canadian Screen Award under her belt, has been singing dramatic arias about tragedy for years. Her secret? She didn’t really know what that devastation felt like. She only experienced it off stage in early 2020 when her long-term partner dropped a bombshell. “I was completely blindsided … the person I loved woke up one day, told me she wasn’t happy, and I basically never saw her again,” Stelmanis says. She confesses to feeling very at odds with the world, like nothing made sense. The album’s name is a reference to the societal pressure to just paste on a smile and keep going. Stelmanis and co-producer Kieran Adams (Diana, The Weather Station) took inspiration from the Eurodance sound of Madonna’s landmark 1998 album Ray of Light, produced by William Orbit, and emerged with a mix of hypnotic dance floor anthems and elegant melodies to soothe your broken heart. Mournful lyrics about the opprobrium of heartache join euphoric, live-for-today euro-dance inspired synth melodies, a juxtaposition that says what we all know: contrasting emotions like anxiety and excitement, pleasure and pain, and jealousy and attraction can feel indistinguishable in your body. Who Stelmanis might be off stage – a composer, a studious introvert, suffering from an obsession with a romantic betrayal – is set free by embodying the protagonist of this invigorating album-length journey. She’s a force, demonic, an emotionally-driven chaos monster, and she’s going to lead you to surrender.Instagram I Facebook | Spotify | Apple Music

Nearby that week

• Sat, Nov 218:00 p.m.Garçons & Kyle Wildfern TourSonic Hall
• Sun, Nov 228:00 p.m.Keegan Powell & The Jetpacks + Teenage KicksSonic Hall
• Thu, Nov 268:00 p.m.Janky BungagSonic Hall
• Fri, Nov 278:00 p.m.Friday Night SalsaFixFlying Dance Community

Everything on in Guelph this week