Chin Up Buttercup

The article celebrates Chin Up Buttercup, the fifth Austra album, as the culmination of Katie Stelmanis’ long-running artistic evolution. Throughout her career—whether in art-punk bands, solo work, or collaborations—Stelmanis has relied on a few constants: devastatingly emotional lyrics, her operatic vibrato-heavy voice, and a talent for blending dance-floor euphoria with darker indie atmospheres. Austra has always served as her laboratory for reworking these ingredients, and this new record is portrayed as the first time she’s fully perfected the formula.

The piece highlights how Chin Up Buttercup takes Austra further into club-ready territory than ever before, with Stelmanis jumping between highly specific dance subgenres and showcasing sharply honed production skills. The album emerges as both a technical and emotional breakthrough, created in the aftermath of a painful pandemic breakup that fuels much of its lyrical content.

Tracks like “Math Equation” and the title track show her pairing wounded introspection with crystalline electronic arrangements, creating tension between heartbreak and the desire to lose oneself on the dance floor. Mid-album highlights such as “Fallen Cloud” amplify this ecstatic release, while “The Hopefulness of Dawn” delivers the record’s biggest surprise—a full-fledged EDM climax that feels earned after the album’s steady buildup. Yet despite all the experimentation, familiar Austra traits remain in songs like “Siren Song” and “Blindsided.”

Ultimately, the article frames Chin Up Buttercup as both an artistic leap and a reaffirmation of Austra’s core identity: a testament to Stelmanis’ ability to transform grief into shimmering, body-moving pop, and to continually evolve while keeping her emotional and sonic DNA intact.