No stranger to the P’tit Ours crowd, Ahren Strange took the Pop Montréal cave stage, strummed their shimmering guitars and opened with one of their newest singles, “Fear of the Sun,” a hypnotic indie burner that they say is about “taking shrooms during the eclipse.” “They don’t mix,” Ahren laughed. No shit. That sounds terrifying. Somewhere in the song, you can hear it: the sky going dark, the ground going soft, the brain quietly taking its exit.
I immediately clocked that Julia Hill (Shunk, Maron Tate, Beer52s, etc.), Montreal’s favourite bassist, was in the background holding it down with the chill, laid-back drum flair courtesy of Aaron Nadal. What does that make? Nine bands for Julia Hill? Maybe it was just for the Pop show, but she quickly vibed with the moody Ahren Strange indie pop vibe. The bass and drums moved together like slow tides, unbothered, while everything else chewed the scenery.
The new Ahren Strange album, Heliophobia, drops in mid-October, and looking into some of the lyrics from this latest batch of songs, a lot of them seem to be about anxiety and a fear of light (maybe not literally, but metaphorically?) Either way, it’s a hell of a title and a theme that suits a room with no windows. Ahren’s vocals are always honey-sweet, but I’ve never really seen them go headfirst into that grungey Cobain-esque growl. We got a few moments during the set, and it suits them. Doubling up on the buzzing guitar chords made the sound feel enormous, walls-sweating, chest-rattling huge, which is not what I was expecting from the indie pop vibe I’m used too, but I was not mad at it.
“I’m writing a new album right now, and it’s all going to be in standard [tuning],” Ahren laughed as they tuned between songs with the capo. “I can’t keep doing this,” they said before jumping into a very hoppy, Keith Richards-style riff of the 90s alt-rock-tinged “Hot Women Smoking Vapes.” During that particular song, I kind of dissociated for a few short moments. The room closed in, and all I could see and hear were the dulcet tunes of Ahren Strange. I mean, who doesn’t love hot women smoking? No one, but good live music has that effect.
Photos by Stephan Boissonneault
