It was an intimate affair for SUUNCAAT’s performance at Pop Montreal. Having paid her dues in the city’s punk and underground electronic scenes, she took the stage in La Casa del Popolo’s small back room, packed with an eclectic mix of festival-goers.
Backing her vocals was frequent collaborator BELANIMA, and together the two built a set that felt equal parts avant-garde performance art and hyperpop concert. The show was immersive and experimental from the first moment as both performers wore starkly contrasting costumes, SUUNCAAT in all-white & the latter in an all-red bodysuit with dangling horns, playing on an angel-and-demon imagery. The room went dark and quiet, and ethereal vocals emerged before any lights came up, accompanied by a macabre visual display that undercut the angelic sound with an ominous ambiance.
That tension between extremes runs through SUUNCAAT’s work, and it showed in how the set unfolded. From the ceremonial opening, the performance shifted into a drum and bass-driven stretch, layered with playful, unexpected live effects: at one point BELANIMA sprayed the crowd with bubbles, delighting the room. Tambourine, maracas, and chimes threaded through the electronic textures, and both musicians traded off on guitar throughout. At a certain point, a half filled glass bottle was used to create warped, textured sounds which I found to be quite amusing & innovative.
Stylistically, the set pulled from baroque sensibilities, drum and bass, and hyperpop, but read live as something more electro-punk in its delivery. Home videos played behind them at points, including footage of a young SUUNCAAT playing violin, a nod to her background as a classically trained musician. Elsewhere, the set dipped into footwork rhythms, with the pair working pedal effects and live synthesizers, warping and texturing their vocals in real time.
They ended the set abruptly, tearing down their gear before the crowd had realized the show was over. Once it clicked, the room chanted for an encore, but both artists politely declined, much to my dismay.
It was a performance that managed to be danceable, emotional, and genuinely fun all at once, carried by the theatricality of it all. The music was dense with variation in vocal treatment & sound effect and both artists commanded attention with their on-stage presence. The sound in the venue made the lyrics tough to parse at points, but that trade-off felt true to the DIY spirit of the festival.
