Making Time, the boundary-pushing festival born in Philadelphia, took over both floors of the SAT on Saturday night for an all-night affair. Peak time was in the hands of Brooklyn’s finest, Aurora Halal, a familiar face at Making Time. By her own count, this was her fifth appearance under the Making Time banner, and the producer commanded the main room of the SAT with a set that sticks out in my mind as one of the best I’ve heard in that building this year.
After a six-year hiatus from releasing new music, following the strong success of her 2019 solo EP Liquiddity, she is gearing up for a five-track EP on her own label, Mutual Dreaming, due out mid-October. Some of these soon-to-be-released tracks made their way into Saturday’s set. She describes her music as immersive techno that moves through different genres but keeps the same spirit: dark, pulsating, sensual vibes with a touch of mystery and emotion.
This set has a story behind it. Halal wrote it specifically to play in the forest at Sustain-Release festival, composing every day in the weeks leading up to the festival, including in her room on site, with some of the tracks being completed the same day she played them. About half of the set was brand new, and she brought that live rendition to Montreal.
It was a strong start to her peak-time set. The dark, mysterious quality of her music paired beautifully with the smoky, hazy dancefloor. The energy in the packed room was crescendoing as the music grew in intensity. Under the soft red light, as the crowd danced with abandon, it felt closer to a sweaty warehouse rave than to a club night. A really cool light display, with LED poles coming down from the ceiling and rotary alarm lights throughout, added to the atmosphere.
The set was built on a steady four-to-the-floor techno beat, with new sounds layered in along the way. There were pitched-up vocal samples, bell breakdowns, and smooth, sexy cymbals. As the performance advanced, she let things simmer with spaced-out vocal tracks, before slipping in blurbs of acid and cheeky moaning loops. Through it all, the thump never let up, and the intense kick drums had the room moving.
The vibe of the crowd was unmatched. As the set went on, the room got fuller, with attendees pulled in by the punchy, rumbling drum kicks and hypnotic sounds. By the 30-minute mark, she was absolutely rocking the house, dancing along to her compositions under the watchful eye of the dancers crowded up at the front around her setup. It was an electrifying performance, paired with a masterful light show. It was my personal favourite of the evening.
As the set ended and people poured out of the venue for some (much needed) fresh air, her name seemed to be on everyone’s lips. I am adamant she could easily have kept going for another two or three hours at least and could have commanded the party all night. Alas, this was not the case. In the future, I would love to see her booked for an extended set, to find out how far she can push the envelope, and I will be impatiently awaiting her next record.
Photo by Nina Gibelin Souchon
