It’s likely that to most, Toronto’s hotly-tipped electronica outfit Austra appeared out of nowhere—or, maybe out some sort of gothic, not-Canadian ice forest not yet fully colonized—to an abundance of hype for their debut album Feel It Break (out today) in the last six months, but the group’s figurehead Katie Stelmanis has been earning her cred for years in the Toronto music underground.

After her classically childhood years, Stelmanis played in post-riot-grrrl band Galaxy, loaned her powerful voice to the moody Appalachian chorus of Bruce Peninsula, and as a solo artist, debuted on Toronto’s cool kids’ music co-operative Owen Pallett and Fucked Up even before they were the cool kids (Stelmanis also sang on Fucked Up’s Polaris-Prize winning artcore opus The Chemistry of Common Life).

Still, she’s enjoyed relative anonymity, but with a new name for an old(ish) project that’s evolved naturally from Stelmanis’ solo work, things seem to be clicking in a way they haven’t until now.

“It’s interesting to see the way people perceive me as a solo artist versus the concept of Austra as a band,” Stelmanis says on the phone in Toronto on a brief stint at home before back-and-forth tour jaunts to Europe and the U.S. “It’s funny to us, we’ve been doing the same thing for a long time. I think that just shows how important it is, the way you present yourself because it does really change the way people perceive your music.”

The ‘us’ in reference is Stelmanis, drummer/programmer Mya Postepski, and bassist Dorian Wolf, long-time friends and collaborators on Stelmanis’ self-penned compositions. Stelmanis still writres primarily everything at home in her studio, but the switch to a band dynamic was a natural progression as the songs took new life on stage.

“The project became, over time, more collaborative. It wasn’t like a moment where it was a new project,” Stelmanis explains. “It made sense for us to change the name because I wanted to recognize the work that Mya was doing in the project, and Dorian.

“It’s just a nice sort of blank slate that we can kind of carve our own identity into, which is nice.”

Part of the identity Austra have carved for themselves is rooted in deliberately dark visuals and aesthetics; the music itself low, throbbing, arresting. Feel It Break oozes Stelmanis’ trademark baroque-synth, but now, it’s had a little more time to brood (and for the record, she was all over the witch trend before people thought to throw the term at her). Think Nine Inch Nails done by PJ Harvey, or, a comparison she hears all the time, The Knife. And it isn’t just the sounds that are similar—all of the artists Austra aspire to share a proclivity for a certain image.

“Aesthetics are a really important part of what we do. All the artists I love and enjoy are ones that pay attention to every detail. I have no interest in being the kind of band who will wear, on a stage, what they are going to wear to their office job the next day,” Stelmanis says unapologetically. “Each show should be its own performance, and we really work with that and have evolved on that concept.”

Another part of Austra’s the new identity is a shiny new record deal with respected—and well-stacked—UK indie Domino, a partnership that started as an almost-accident at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas in 2010.

“I was playing a Brooklyn Vegan showcase, and our set was particularly delayed because I got a ticket pulling up to the venue to unload the gear,” she recalls. “I got stopped by a police and had to negotiate about not giving me a ticket for not stopping at a stop sign properly. So we went on like half an hour late and I guess they kind of saw us by accident.”

Most bands dream of the label-scouted showcase signing; Stelmanis admits it’s been a bit of an adjustment—not knowing where the label’s handling of things begins and hers ends, for one—having been a DIY musician her whole adult her career. But for the self-made Stelmanis, of course, the reward is far greater than just having someone book the tours.

“It’s just validating, to be working with a label that you respect and you like. We’ve been working with DIY musicians for such a long time, and have played so many shows to like nobody all around the word.

It’s nice to feel that what we’re doing is getting recognized to some extent. Who knows where it’ll go in the future, but it’s just nice that at this point that people are interested in what we’re doing.”