Austra releases new single/video “Siren Song” + announces 2026 tour
7th October 2025
Austra, the pop project of Canadian vocalist and composer Katie Stelmanis, will release her fifth album Chin Up Buttercup on November 14, and today she shares her majestic new single “Siren Song.” Co-written with Montreal songwriter, musician and DJ Patrick Holland, “Siren Song” is a dreamy trance-like plea for connection. “‘Siren Song’ exists somewhere at the intersection of ABBA, Ray of Light, The X-Files and Greek mythology,” says Stelmanis. “ABBA inspired the early songwriting with Patrick. The Siren introduced herself to me while I was improvising the demo recordings and I quickly realized that Orpheus would be our common nemesis. Following a recent X-Files binge, I was heavily inspired by Mulder’s desperate search for his sister. Ray of Light came in at the end as my co-producer Kieran Adams and I were establishing the sonic realm which would become the backdrop for our Siren to lament the loss of her lover to Orpheus and his pesky Lyre.” “Siren Song” comes via a video directed by Vanessa Magic.
Today Austra also announces her 2026 tour, featuring dates across North America and the EU and UK in January, February, and March. Tickets will be on artist pre-sale this Wednesday, October 8; promoter pre-sale this Thursday, October 9; and general pre-sale this Friday, October 10, all at 10am local time. Tickets will be available at austra.fyi.
AUSTRA 2026 TOUR
1/9: Club Saw - Ottawa, ON
1/10: La Sala Rossa - Montreal, QC
1/11: Baby’s All Right - Brooklyn, NY
1/13: Beachland Ballroom & Tavern - Cleveland, OH
1/14: The Magic Bag - Ferndale, MI
1/16: Sleeping Village - Chicago, IL
1/17: 7th Street Entry - Minneapolis, MN
1/20: 29th Street Ballroom - Austin, TX
1/21: Club Dada - Dallas, TX
1/23: The Roxy Theatre - West Hollywood, CA
1/24: The Independent - San Francisco, CA
1/26: Mississippi Studios - Portland, OR
1/27: Madame Lou’s - Seattle, WA
1/29: The Fox Cabaret - Vancouver, BC
1/31: The Great Hall - Toronto, ON
2/6: Foro Indie Rocks - Cuauhtémoc, MX
2/7: C3 Rooftop - Guadalajara, MX
2/28: Sala Villanos - Madrid, ES
3/1: La Nau - Barcelona, ES
3/3: L’Epicerie Moderne - Fezyin (Lyon), FR
3/4: La Maroquinerie - Paris, FR
3/5: Le Grand Mix - Tourcoing, FR
3/7: Botanique - Rotonde - Brussels, BE
3/8: Mojo Club - Hamburg, DE
3/9: Hotel Cecil - Copenhagen, DK
3/10: Slatkyrkan - Stockholm, SE
3/12: Kesselhaus - Berlin, DE
3/13: Hydrozagadka - Warsaw, PL
3/14: Subzero - Prague, CZ
3/17: Technikum - Munich, DE
3/18: Club Bahnhof Ehrenfeld (CBE) - Köln, DE
3/19: Melkweg - Amsterdam, NL
3/21: Stereo - Glasgow, UK
3/22: The White Hotel - Salford, UK
3/23: Village Underground - London, UK
3/25: The Workman’s Club – Dublin, IE
3/26: Flux – Vienna, AT
Austra Chin Up Buttercup
Album | 14th November 2025
“I’m so chaotic in love,” sings Katie Austra Stelmanis on “Amnesia,” the cinematic opening track of Chin Up Buttercup, the fifth album by her alter ego and longtime pop project Austra. You know Austra’s astonishing voice – singular and operatic, it betrays a fearlessness and sophistication. She’s the woman you’d be afraid to approach in a bar. Her voice draws you like a siren to the dance floor as the beats build toward the hypnotic chorus of “my life is not the same without you in my arms.” Listen closely and you’ll hear a vulnerability that sets this album apart from her earlier work. This is a grief album you can dance to.
Stelmanis and co-producer Kieran Adams shared a mutual love of pop divas, Eurodance and hard-to-find techno. Madonna’s 1998 album Ray of Light, produced by William Orbit, was a key influence in the later stages of album making: “Ray of Light was produced almost entirely on a Juno-106 and a Korg MS-20 which we’d been using, so the reference point was aligned,” says Stelmanis. The album sounds like a mix of hypnotic dance floor anthems and elegant melodies to soothe your broken heart.
“I’m so chaotic in love,” sings Katie Austra Stelmanis on “Amnesia,” the cinematic opening track of Chin Up Buttercup, the fifth album by her alter ego and longtime pop project Austra. You know Austra’s astonishing voice – singular and operatic, it betrays a fearlessness and sophistication. She’s the woman you’d be afraid to approach in a bar. Her voice draws you like a siren to the dance floor as the beats build toward the hypnotic chorus of “my life is not the same without you in my arms.” Listen closely and you’ll hear a vulnerability that sets this album apart from her earlier work. This is a grief album you can dance to.
Stelmanis and co-producer Kieran Adams shared a mutual love of pop divas, Eurodance and hard-to-find techno. Madonna’s 1998 album Ray of Light, produced by William Orbit, was a key influence in the later stages of album making: “Ray of Light was produced almost entirely on a Juno-106 and a Korg MS-20 which we’d been using, so the reference point was aligned,” says Stelmanis. The album sounds like a mix of hypnotic dance floor anthems and elegant melodies to soothe your broken heart.