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Live Review: Austen weathers the 'Storm' with bold new single

23 October 2017 | 10:07 pm | Camilla Patini

Brisbane-based singer AUSTEN has just released a stunning new single called ‘Storm’. The singer’s voice is supported by megaproduction from James Angus (Midas.Gold, Carmouflage Rose, Gill Bates), bringing to mind the likes of Woodes, Halsey and Banks in what is a powerful and ambitious track. The music throughout flitters in between swirling synths, meticulous percussion, deep moody bass and ethereal vocals, revealing an artist who is not afraid to try something new (see her first two releases, 'Faded' and 'Darkside', for comparison).

Austen’s voice is heavily processed and distorted in the song’s introductory verses, eventually giving way to smooth, powerful and more natural-sounding vocals that set the mood for the rest of the song, really showing off just how incredible her natural voice is. ‘I was talking to myself / playing reruns in my head / repeating what you said,’ she sings, delving further into the emotional vulnerability that develops as the song progresses.

The emotion she sings about is a universal one – that spiralling sense of being out of control when you’re falling in love, and how "in that moment everything is so insane and you feel like you’re in the eye of this whirlwind going on around you," as Austen explains. "Your electricity a force / It knocks me off my feet / You can feel it coming like the rain," she sings, but the details are personal and specific: "We revolve around the Earth / with your arm around my waist / toes are clenching in the dirt / I look up into the sky,’ she sings, her voice absolutely soaring.

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‘Storm’ has a brooding quality to it, underlaid as it is by ethereal sounds and a deep, needling bass. The song is full of other small subtleties and unpredictable synths stabs that build up to create the dramatic sound she seemed to be going for. The song is overall dynamic, with the processed vocals giving the song a propulsive edge.

Austen is currently on a national tour alongside The Kite String Tangle and Golden Vessel. Check out the tour dates below.

WED 25 OCT | THE CORNER, MELBOURNE VIC

FRI 27 OCT | THE CORNER, MELBOURNE VIC * SOLD OUT *

SAT 28 OCT | JACK RABBIT SLIMS, PERTH WA * SOLD OUT *

SAT 28 OCT | JACK RABBIT SLIMS, PERTH WA

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