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I reached Aurora Halal by phone as she strolled through the city on a gloomy afternoon. A resident at Nowadays in NYC and a frequent guest at Berlin’s revered Berghain, she is also the founder of Sustain-Release festival. She is now returning to releasing music after a six-year hiatus, following the immense success of her 2019 solo EP Liquiddity. We spoke about the hardware live set she wrote for Sustain-Release and will be playing in the night ( between Saturday and Sunday) what makes Making Time special, her ties to Montreal, and her upcoming EP on the Mutual Dreaming label.
PAN M 360: So it’s been four years since your last performance at the SAT. I believe the last time was on New Year’s Eve in 2022. I was really excited to see your name on the Making Time takeover of the SAT flyer, and I was wondering what kind of a set can your fans expect?
AURORA HALAL: My performance is a one-hour hardware live set, so it’s my own music, and it’s psychedelic. I don’t even know how to describe it. It’s immersive techno that has different chapters to it, and genres that it goes through, but it’s all the same spirit, which is dark, pulsating, sensual vibes, also a bit mysterious and emotive. Those are the themes, I would say.
I wrote a lot of new music for this set in particular, so that I could play it in the forest at Sustain-Release, which is what I’m doing at the festival here. So I’m bringing the set that I wrote for Sustain-Release and I’m going to play it there. One thing that was cool for me is that I actually wrote the music every day in the weeks before Sustain-Release, including in my room at the festival. Some of the songs were written the day that I played. They were not written, but finished. I was continuing to write it in my room for a week. So I feel like that’s a cool detail that’s interesting for me because the music got to contain the festival itself. It was created with it specifically.
Although I’m working on it a little bit more this week, so I might change some things between now and then, but the way it works for me is I always write new music every couple of months and reinvent my set, put some of the same songs that have been in it, move the other ones around, do remixes of them.
It’s always morphing. And I haven’t had that many live sets in the last few years, so for me, this has been an exciting reboot to go back to it and make a lot of new music. So about half of the music is brand new. One of the songs is actually one of my oldest. I brought back a really old one and remixed it as well. So it’s always in flux. I also don’t know what’s going to happen until I start writing it, so I’m just following the inspiration and seeing where it leads me.
PAN M 360: How much do you leave up to reading the vibe in the room and just reacting to the energy the dancers are giving you back?
AURORA HALAL: With a live set, not a lot. A live set is written, so it’s a composition. I’m playing it improvisationally because I’m introducing all the parts and I’m tweaking them and there’s a lot of different layers, so I can change the dynamics within it and when things start and stop and how intense it is, but the songs are in a set order. It’s different than a DJ set. DJ sets are reacting a lot more, but this is more of a piece that I’ve written and I’m presenting. But I’m playing it, I’m rocking out when I’m playing it, so there’s a lot of different ways to play it. Like a band.
PAN M 360: Apart from your artistic endeavors, you’re also a promoter in your own right, as Director of Sustain-Release festival. As someone who’s worn multiple hats, as a producer, event organizer & label boss, in your opinion, what makes Making Time so special ?
AURORA HALAL: I really relate to Dave P. because he and I are both DIY creators and he’s such a legend and he’s been doing it longer than anyone I know and he’s always pushing new ideas before they become a big thing and creating space for musical movements in a way that’s quite community-oriented since so long. So I relate to him. I think that I have the same goals.
Our festivals are different, but what they have in common is that they’re both community-run and they’re all about musical ideas. And I think that’s what makes Making Time very special for me. It feels quite intimate, even though it’s large. And that’s also an impressive thing that he’s able to do, where there’s a lot of people there, but they’re all invested in it in an intimate way. They’re paying close attention to the timetable and the ideas that are being presented. They’re quite open-minded.
PAN M 360: And how did he approach you? Did you meet through music? Was it at a similar gig? Did you know each other previously?
AURORA HALAL: I’m trying to remember, but I’ve played at this point four or five Making Time events. I’ve done a New Year’s one with him at SAT, and I did Making Time two years ago solo, and I did Making Time this year. And I think there was one more. Oh, and one in Philadelphia, a Making Time party in Philadelphia. I don’t really remember how we first got connected, but we hit it off right away because he’s a really cool guy. I really can’t remember, actually.
It must have been when I did the Philly one, because I think that was before the festival. It was three years ago, I think. He did a Making Time party in Philadelphia. And then I came back to play the Making Time festival two years ago. And then, after that I did New Year’s in Montreal, & this year I played a B2B with Verraco at the festival. So this will be my fifth time participating in a Making Time party.
PAN M 360: Do you have any special Montreal memories? Musical or other?
AURORA HALAL: Oh yeah, I have a really strong connection with Montreal. I’m good friends with a lot of artists that live there, including Priori, who I’ve collaborated with. And I love Mutek as well. I’ve played at multiple Mutek events. And I think Vincent (Vincent Lemieux — Mutek’s programmer) is really cool.
I love Montreal. I think it’s got an amazing music scene. So many producers. I think it’s really great how the city has so many music makers. In New York we have a lot of DJs, but in Canada specifically, there’s much more focus on people with studios, making music, pushing their ideas. I really like that. Also, I’m half Canadian. I’m a proud Canadian citizen (laughs).
PAN M 360: Do you feel like there’s a Brooklyn-Montreal synergy? I see a lot of the same names on flyers for events or clubs like Nowadays or Signal [famed NYC clubs]. They often share a lot of the same programming as Montreal.
AURORA HALAL: Definitely. Also, at Sustain-Release, maybe not as much as there used to be, but I would guess a fifth of the people who go are from Montreal. So, in general, I feel like it’s a strong connection. A lot of Montreal people work at Sustain as well. I think New Yorkers and Montrealers are both very interested in underground music and are out looking to find it.
PAN M 360: Is there anything else you would like to let the world know? Any upcoming projects? Things you’re excited for?
AURORA HALAL: Yeah, I have a five-track EP on my label, Mutual Dreaming, that’s coming mid-October. And I’m going to play most of those tracks in my set this weekend. I’m excited to release them; it’ll be on vinyl and digital. Besides that, I’m excited to continue working on my next record. I took a long break from releasing music. It’s been six years since my last one, besides tracks from compilations. And I’m actually in the mood to be back in the studio all the time. So it feels really good to be at a point where I’m really connecting with my music all the time. So this is coming at a fun time for me.
PAN M 360: Wonderful. Thank you very much for your time. And I’d just like to say, I would love to hear another Paul St-Hilaire collaboration.
AURORA HALAL: Oh, yeah, me too. That would be great. I’ve actually been talking with Richard (Richard Akingbehin – Kynant Records founder) about doing a DJ G. and Aurora EP. I don’t know if that’s going to happen or not, but that’s something we’ve already discussed. So if that did, we would definitely try to get at least a track with Paul St-Hilaire. I got to meet him recently and he’s amazing, such a cool guy!
Making Time, the Philadelphia-born festival, takes over the SAT this Saturday, October 3, for an all-night affair, with eight artists spread across two floors, running into the wee hours of the morning. As the flyer puts it, it will be “a futuristic and transcendental sonic experience in Montreal”. Founder and curator Dave P. and Alexandre Auché, the SAT’s programming director, joined forces on the impressive lineup, which features Detroit electro pioneers Dopplereffekt in a live A/V performance, alongside a live set from Aurora Halal. Heavy-hitter Massimiliano Pagliara and OKO DJ also play, while Olof Dreijer performs in the Satosphere dome with visuals by Klip Kollective.
Track recommendations :
- Paul St. Hilaire, Aurora Halal & DJ G – Mary Jane Greenfield
Paul St. Hilaire, Aurora Halal & DJ G – Mary Jane Greenfield
- Aurora Halal – Eternal Blue
Aurora Halal - Eternal Blue [MD003]
- Aurora Halal – Just Tell Me
Aurora Halal – Just Tell Me [MD 002]
- Aurora Halal & DJ G. – Off The Top
Aurora Halal & DJ G. – Off The Top [AIR008]
- Ital & Halal – Tower B
Album Emblématique : Liquiddity (2019)
