Austra – “Anywayz”

Katie Stelmanis returned at the end January with a “Risk It,” the first new Austra song in years. And now she’s ficially announced a new album called HiRUDiN , the follow-up to 2017’s excellent Future Politics. While Stelmanis has been the project’s sole producer in the past, she is joined for the first time on HiRUDiN by co-producers Rodaidh McDonald and Joseph Shabason.

Named after a peptide released by leeches that is the most potent anticoagulant in the world, HiRUDiN is a deeply personal record that touches on the process healing in the wake ending a toxic relationship. And today, Stelmanis is sharing a video for new single “Anywayz,” the album’s opening track. The song “explores the fear associated with leaving someone, and the terrifying realization that without them in your life, the rest the world will continue unscathed as if nothing has changed,” she explains in a statement.

“I wanted the video to feel as dramatic and chaotic as heartbreak can be, bringing this fear into fruition,” adds director Jasmin Mozaffari, who previously helmed the video for “Risk It.” “The concept focuses on Katie as a heightened version herself, sequestered inside a barren mansion that resembles a cage her own spiralling thoughts. She resists moving on, yet as time persists and the outside world thrives, it eventually forces itself upon her.” Watch and listen below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Anywayz”
02 “All I Wanted”
03 “How Did You Know?”
04 “Your Family”
05 “Risk It”
06 “Interlude i”
07 “It’s Amazing”
08 “Mountain Baby feat. Cecile Believe”
09 “I Am Not Waiting”
10 “Interlude ii”
11 “Messiah”

HiRUDiN is out 5/1 on Domino. Pre-order it here.