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Dan Seligman is the founder and still creative director of Pop Montréal, Montreal’s premier fall happening. He leads the team that recruited the artists and bands scheduled for Wednesday, September 24th to Sunday, September 29th. As is the case every year, PAN M 360 asked him to identify his artistic director’s top 5 daily must-haves. Here are Thursday’s picks!
“For Thursday, Sarah Rossi would be my number 1 choice. This Montreal singer is in a musical world comparable to that of Thanya Iyer, that is to say very orchestral, performed by very high-level musicians, often from jazz and serious music. I received the album she is releasing on Thursday in advance, I was really surprised. I had the impression of discovering an artist of the caliber of Annie Lennox, Goldfrapp, Kate Bush… , in short these singers who push the limits of expression. There will be several people on stage, a big program.”
“I really like this young singer from Montreal that I discovered this year: Hanako. My 16-year-old daughter introduced me to her and I noticed that she had applied to the festival, so I programmed her! She does grunge, folk and dream pop. Her first album, My River Goblin (2022), was recorded by Ky Brooks. She made an EP in 2024, KakoBako, with Japanese references – it’s part of her origins. She will release a third album in the coming months.”
One of my favorites this Thursday is Joseph Shabason, from Toronto. He comes from the world of jazz, he’s a saxophonist. He’s collaborated with several important bands, Destroyer, War on Drugs, etc. He records a lot, he presents a lot of interesting concepts, really cool, often hypnotic. One of his albums tells the story of an immigrant, from a Jewish family settled in Toronto. He’s really very prolific, you have to go to his Bandcamp page!
I also have to choose Annie-Claude Deschênes’ solo show. I think she’s one of the best local artists. Performance-wise, there’s no one in the country who does what she does, she’s an extraordinary stage animal. When I saw and heard her show, I was captivated, and we invited her for our showcase at South by Southwest. She has this incredible ability to capture people’s attention and transform a rock show into an extraordinary, theatrical, completely crazy performance. I’ll be at that show! Really cool.
In the same program as Annie-Claude, there is the artist Surma, from Lisbon, Portugal. There are touches of world music, but it’s primarily cutting-edge electronic work, very solid and very refined, with jazz also present. Surma tours a lot, especially since her albums alla and Antwerpen launched her onto the international indie circuit. Her music seems very interesting to me, and I’m very curious to see what she’ll do with it on stage.
