Quick review: Austra

Austra's return to Berlin had been highly anticipated - Lido was sold out months in advance. The new record "Olympia" is getting a lot of press and public attention, their tours with the XX and with The Gossip must have aided the success. But more than anything, it's the art and music of Austra that draws in the crowds - the übercool ones and the general public alike, as the show at Lido proved.

The catchy singles aside, the new material certainly takes a little longer to get a knack of compared to the last album. But once you have listened to it a couple of times, the record in its entirety is highly addictive. The group surrounding Katie Stelmanis is obviously more grown-up, has matured in years of touring and running the show. And though the songs still hold the trademark theatrical vocals and dance beats, there is overall more of a seriousness applied to these songs than you would have maybe expected from a young Canadian dance music troupe.

Lido packed to the rim, people were dancing from the word go and there was no stopping them - old songs, new songs - this crowd was celebrating the band onstage. Austra did live up to the expectations, performed flawlessly with fun and persona, gave it their all. The sound struggled to keep up with the high and low sounds of Austra but I don't think anyone noticed. People were simply up for it. What good fun.

Somehow we managed to hang around a fairly dull afterparty for several hours - drinks and friends in Kreuzberg.

Robin Eisenberg has produced a couple of amazing draws again for us and we love her for it.