In a review for '' The A.V. Club '' , Chris Martins noted that Austra " hits the holy trinity of synthesizer music on '' Feel It Break '' " and that the album is heavily influenced by " the high drama and dated synths of Cocteau Twins " , " the clangy darkwave pioneered by Gary Numan " , and " the jaunty , syllable-stretching weirdness of Kate Bush " , concluding that " Austra is best when all three influences expertly converge — like on the groove-steeped creeper ' Beat And The Pulse ' — or when none of them bother showing at all , as on the epic closer ' The Beast ' . " Charlie Frame of '' Clash '' expressed that " t he songwriting and production are strong throughout and often Stelmanis acquires a surprisingly rich amount of warmth from her dramatically sweeping sound that 's rarely heard in this scene . With the cool-o-meter currently set at all things synthy and coldwave-y , Austra look set for big things . " '' Pitchfork '' reviewer Tom Breihan commented that Austra " play a warm , hazy sort of electro-goth . It 's synthetic and repetitive , and there 's plenty of Giorgio Moroder in its DNA , but it 's not dance music . Instead , it 's music for a planetarium , or maybe for a mid-1980s PBS science documentary . Austra 's synth riffs do n't pound or undulate ; they flutter and envelop . And Stelmanis does n't sing over the top of their tracks ; she emits sound from somewhere in the thick of it . " Andy Beta of '' Spin '' opined that the band 's " seedy synth pop more often recalls Kate Bush 's dramatic art songs and the Knife 's ghostly techno-pop ( and more specifically , the soured vowels of frontwoman Karin Andersson ) . But from surging , operatic opener ' Darken Her Horse ' to closing piano ballad ' Lose It , ' Stelmanis ' voice and vision are mostly her own . " '' Slant Magazine '' s Paul Schrodt gave the album four out of five stars , noting that the album " combines the atmospherics of darker new wave with a thumping , Giorgio Moroder-type beat . It 's big in scope , but clean in sound . Every detail of the production feels carefully thought out . In the background , it 's all piano , chimes , drums , and sleek synths . At the front , it 's Stelmanis 's voice , a glorious Kate Bush-like caterwaul that can also drop much lower " . Laura Snapes of '' NME '' commended the album 's first half , but felt that the second half does not " quite hit such ecstatic peaks " , adding that " although Katie 's piano skills are impressive , final song ' The Beast ' is too stripped back and literal , erring a '' teensy bit '' on Evanescence balladry . " She concluded , " The odd misfire aside , '' Feel It Break '' is self-assured and utterly consuming . At this rate , Stelmanis will be leading the pack soon . " Arnold Pan of '' PopMatters '' called the album " promising " and characterized Stelmanis ' " eccentric " voice as " u nique and resembling nothing except itself " , but remarked that " '' Feel It Break '' as a whole is a little uneven because Austra still seems to be looking to strike the right balance between its different parts . That 's not to say , though , that Austra wo n't grow to possess a richer , fuller aesthetic , something that the group shows it 's capable of on the debut 's most complete tracks , ' Spellwork ' and ' The Villain ' . " '' Feel It Break '' was shortlisted for the 2011 Polaris Music Prize , but lost out to Arcade Fire 's '' The Suburbs '' . It was also nominated for Electronic Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2012
Juno Awards of 2012
Juno Awards of 2012
Feel It Break