Austra’s new album is a temporal and gelatinous dose of synthpop, Eurodance wave, and techno. With moments of abstract reveries and caffeinated BPMs, the album shifts with synthesized determination and Katie Austra Stelmanis’ hypnotic and all-encompassing voice. “Amnesia” opens the album like a mysterious door installed in the middle of a lake. As you step through, expecting to drown, you actually find yourself in an Alice in Wonderland-esque ballroom where the characters are forgetful chandeliers swaying to the bassy groove.
The production of “Math Equation” sparkles like a disco ball made of unresolved feelings, the main bass line feeling quite similar to the Kylie Minogue banger “Can’t Get You Out of My Head.” The room soon spins in chaos, inside a space where all the exits are marked “Then You Fucked Them.”
“Siren Song” turns into an aquatic rave, sounding a bit like Florence and the Machine stuck in a never-ending lighthouse. Personally, I love the beat on this one. The title track, “Chin Up Buttercup,” materializes like a strange pep talk, feeling melancholic under strobe lights. The album concludes with “Good Riddance,” which manages to sound both like a door slamming and a welcome mat being rolled up. It’s a farewell that doubles as a manifesto, liberation served on a silver platter made of synthesizers. On Chin Up Buttercup, heartbreak has a bpm, so dance through the chaos.
