Interviews – Page 3

Here’s a Californian band with just enough of a cult following to delight music lovers converging on the Festival international de musique actuelle de Victoriaville this weekend.

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum sparked interest among musique actuelle fans after a decade or so of silence prior to this revival.

The band re-emerged with “Of the Last Human Being”, a hybrid album warmly welcomed by its base. The SGM experience involves furious real-time performance, offered by unbridled artists who sing and also play multiple instruments, both consecrated and invented.

SGM has been described as a catalyst for metal, progressive rock, classical/modern/contemporary music and contagious theatricality!

Let’s talk to guitarist, flautist and singer Nils Frykdahl, to get us ready for the concert on Saturday May 17 in Victoriaville.

PAN M 360 : Recently Sleepytime Gorilla Museum was back in action after a long hiatus. An album last year, new concerts, new projects… Why did you re-form the collective ?

Nils Frykdahl: The long hiatus was an accident. We were always just about to attend to our unfinished business, but the various exigencies of life…families, elders, children… had led us to opposite coasts and three different regions of Northern California. Finishing the album and the film naturally brought us to our favorite medium of all: the stage.

PAN M 360: Prog, metal, grindcore, funk, jazz, classical contemporary music, art rock… How have the musical genres and sub-genres evolved within this large band ?

Nils Frykdahl: We listen to and enjoy music of all kinds and it all swims through us and emerges differently from song to song, with all of us writing and none of us filtering by genre.

PAN M 360: Let’s be more specific: before integrating them into your language, what forms do you take from metal? From prog? Funk? Jazz? Other influences?

Nils Frykdahl: Certainly the application of the principles of African polyrhythm to heavy music was one of the founding gestures of the band. After being introduced to polyrhythm by CK Ladzepko, for whom it must be felt in the body..”it must come out dancing”, and after feeling the coexistence of 2,3, and 4, it was only natural to try extending the numbers… 5 and 3 living together so merrily in Sleep is Wrong. A contrasting sonic gesture, found in some modern classical, free jazz, and extreme metal, is the overwhelm of rhythm: too fast or chaotic

complex to be truly felt as a pulse or pattern. This then is not rock&roll, but mediation music, primarily for religious purposes.

PAN M 360 : How are you perceived by fans of each of these genres?

Nils Frykdahl: No doubt some see us as monsters or transvestites, but there are open-minded folks in all of these genres ready to celebrate this incredible world with us.

PAN M 360 : Do you primarily reach an audience interested in avant-garde forms of music?

Nils Frykdahl: No. We attract thrill-seekers of all ages, some of them who self-admittedly do not listen to heavy or avant-garde music generally. We are always thrilled to bring unlikely listeners into the beauty of these forms.

PAN M 360 : How do you attract others, if at all?

Nils Frykdahl: It seems that the exclusionary nature of genre boundaries is less restrictive than ever before, with artists and audiences skating freely around the world and centuries. The Big Ears festival in Knoxville Tennessee that hosted us last year being a prime example.

PAN M 360: The writing of your works is precise and rigorous, and so is the execution. Could you describe the creative chain, from composition to recording and public performance?

Nils Frykdahl: The songs initially start with one of us, but are then put through a rehearsal intensive process with each player fashioning their part. This rethinking is never entirely finished, even after recording, as honing in continues during each rehearsal, which we just finished 4 days of here in the old wooden Community Hall in Woods Hole MA. All will be slightly new.

PAN M 360 : Are you adept at hyperactive collage, as Zappa was throughout his career, or Zorn at certain moments?

Nils Frykdahl: No. Our songs maintain a jealous distinctness from each other, often being about entirely disparate things or calling up highly specific emotions.

PAN M 360 : Your interest in text is important. You’re not planning “normal” song forms; text and vocals (or growl) are materials among others. Why integrate text and vocals into this music? What themes or literary approaches are driving them? We know that you were interested in Dadaïsm

Nils Frykdahl: Our interest in Dada is in its catalyst as a positive defiance of the policing of artistic correctness, the separation between artifice and sincerity, meaning and non-sense, theater and authenticity. The interpretation of Dada as nihilism has no interest for me.. too easy. Of course life can be interpreted as meaningless. Open your eyes, salamander.

Most of the songs start with verbal impulses which shape the flow of the music, but sometimes the other way around.

PAN M 360 : You’ve been described as a collective. How do you maintain the cohesion and motivation of such a collective?

Nils Frykdahl: Our mutual enjoyment of each others’ often surprising input is part of what drew us to each other in the first place, so many years ago, wanting to work with folks who we could not second guess. The cohesion is now maintained by the effort of extensive travel, but that in itself is something many of us love.

PAN M 360 : How would you describe the process of creating the works, the compositions, the space reserved for improvisation, the appropriation of the material by the performers and the execution?

Nils Frykdahl: Improvisation is generally only written into the music in fairly small ways, but the inevitable chaos of the live show provides opportunity to see what happens when we are taken by surprise.

PAN M 360 : What are the dynamics of leadership and personal investment within the collective?

Nils Frykdahl: We all contribute according to our inclinations. Some are more likely to make breakfast, some dinner, some sauces.. This includes our crew: John Karr on sound, Wind Beaver on merch, driving and knowing most things, and new for this run Lyndsey on lights (though a late passport may keep her out of Canada, alas).

PAN M 360 : How do we maintain such a company in 2025? On a day-to-day basis?In the medium or long term?

Nils Frykdahl: In fits and starts, and with the aid of new long-distance communication machines.

PAN M 360 : Is this your first concert in Quebec?

Nils Frykdahl: No. We played in Montreal at least once or twice before, and many of us were also there in other projects. In fact, the Greenless Wreath song on “In Glorious Times” was begun and largely written on Mont Royal on a walk there in the shifting wind of a stunning autumn-into-winter day.

PAN M 360 : What are your future plans?

Nils Frykdahl: To raise our voices in songs of praise! At your house!

LINE UP:
Nils Frykdahl – guitar, flute, voice
Carla Kihlstedt – violin, percussion guitar, voice
Michael Mellender – guitar, Tangularium, trumpet, percussion, voice
Dan Rathbun – bass, Sledgehammer Dulcimer, Wiggler, voice
Matthias Bossi – drums, percussion, voice

TICKETS & INFOS

In a phosphorescent haze of a crumbling dream, A Place to Bury Strangers returns to Montreal this week—not as a band, but as a transmission from some rogue frequency where noisy shoegaze dissolves into pure electricity. Their new album, Synthesizer, is a neon-lit séance where analog ghosts wrestle with digital demons in a cathedral of blown-out amplifiers. Each track is a synapse firing backward, a glitch in the fabric of noise that rewires your nervous system into a conduit for their apocalyptic lullabies. Founder of the band, Oliver Ackermann’s guitar howls like a dying satellite and his vocals croon like a petrifed ghost, but now, the synthesizers rise—cybernetic serpents whispering and screaming in binary code.

The physical album cover for A Place to Bury Strangers’ Synthesizer isn’t just an image—it’s a portal, a circuit board disguised as a Rorschach blot, pulsing with latent noise. The album packaging can be turned into an instrument wired directly into the album’s nervous system, a tactile hallucination where the art plays you. This is not hyperbole for dramatic effect. Along with his pedal company, Death By Audio, Ackermann actually laid out the schematic for the synthesizer used on the album, on the front and back of the album gatefold, and with a good knowledge of soldering you too can create this noise machine.

Ahead of their date in Montreal this week, we spoke with Oliver about the new album, destruction and playing every show like it’s his last in the world, and his love for new, sometimes impossible to use sounds.

PAN M 360: You’ve had your pedal company, Death By Audio, basically just as long as you’ve been making music with A Place To Bury Strangers. You use some of these pedals and gear on tour, so has the company always gone hand in hand with the band for you?

Oliver Ackermann: Totally. One of the great things about having this pedal company as well as the band is it’s this focus to find these sounds and these noises all of the time. And that’s what’s so exciting, is searching for these things to discover ‘Oh how can we create these’ and ‘How can we twist the boundaries on these and create this like from the scientific perspective?’ And then from the musical perspective, it’s like you want to create these things to create more music. So it just kind of keeps everything like sort of thrilling. They like kind of feed off of each other. Even the new technologies that are kind of always sort of coming out, you can constantly sort of get excited behind these things and try to experiment. The rate of technology just makes it so wild. Like, if you were to get tired of analog circuits, like even digital programming, it’s just whole other worlds of all of this stuff. I love it.

PAN M 360: Yeah and I mean your band is known as the loudest in New York and and having these intese walls of noise and sound, but have you ever created something and gotten to a point where you’re like, ‘Maybe this is too much noise or ‘This is too crazy?’

Oliver Ackermann: Man, that happens all the time! There are pedals that I won’t use, that we create and we sell at Death By Audio because I’m like, this is just too insane for this part. But it’s also based on like, you know, your own personal preferences. I still can see the value of these things for somebody else and what their music is, you know? And that’s why we kind of created it because you’re like, ‘Oh, this is like really awesome and I think the world should have this,’ but then it also goes in the other hand too. I can create things something like maybe even dangerous or doesn’t really sound that good to other people, but I love it and I can use it.

PAN M 360: Going off that, this new album, Synthesizer, the actual physical album can be turned into a synthesizer. Can you tell me how the hell you had that idea and how you implemented it?

Oliver Ackermann: I think it was around 10 years ago. I was looking at circuit boards and just thinking, ‘Man, these are so beautiful,’ like just as art. So I was like, this needs to be an album cover sometime. I didn’t even have the idea of turning it into something you could build then. And then, we’ve been building all of these synthesizers for ourselves to go on tour in like guitar cases or something, so you can save the weight of cost on air flights. So we’ve had a bunch of weird synths in like cases and then it all kind of clicked and I was like ‘What if you could actually build and synth from a circuit board on a album cover?’ And then I had another thought about playing the synth on all tracks of the record. So you can build this crazy noise synth and not many people have a project like this that sounds so fucked up (laughs). I guess I wanted to break the boundaries of what these sorts of things are.

PAN M 360: And anyone can build this? Like do you need to know how to build synths?

Oliver Ackermann: It’s definitely an advanced project (laughs), for people who like to do meticulous soldering, and you can easily solder together so many things that shouldn’t be connected. But even if you mess up, you get a custom synthesizer that works a bit! I think I’ve even converted a few people who have just come down to Death By Audio sometimes and just saw how much excitement there was around this project. It’s like you’re hanging around with your friends, you’re soldering a bunch of stuff together to make sound and noise. What more could you want to do?

PAN M 360: Are you already kind of like on with the next thing too? I mean, since the record came out in like October, are you already on the next trajectory for another album or EP or something?

Oliver Ackermann: Yeah, totally. Like I have this spreadsheet where I like, maybe I wrote like what I thought were maybe like 45 good songs or something like that. And then we were starting to book, a bunch of these like fly-in shows, and we’re starting to book this like studio time with like friends who are kind of like engineering in different places. I think we’re just gonna like, probably write songs in these different studios and capture those moments.

PAN M 360: That’s a cool approach. Do you believe that the space or the essence of the space that you decide to record in kind of gets baked into the song or the record?

Oliver Ackermann: I mean, all these things must influence it. Microphones sound different and these spaces, it’s your body in this weird moment trying to improvise and not fuck up but then maybe a mistake becomes the main part. That space you’re in is part of that experience. I mean, think about hearing samples in songs and them transporting you to a place. It’s a sonic signature. It’s like, if you smell your grandmother’s bathroom or something, you’re back there for sure. I think that that stuff must even happen with those spaces. Some particular space is gonna even create some magic. That’s the excitement of music is the human error and the kind of space and the weirdness and those little subtleties.

PAN M 360: What’s your view of AI in music? We’re in this weird period where there are AI bands making full songs now.

Oliver Ackermann: Yeah, I mean music could be as perfect as AI possibly wants it to generate it or imperfect or whatever. I think, you know, I’d rather make a conscious choice to like, you know, see some real people or hear some real people making it. I’ve always joked that we (APTBS) don’t have to worry about AI because our music’s so terrible. That’s just what we’re doing.

PAN M 360: Seeing AI try to make A Place To Bury Strangers music would be pretty hilarious.

Oliver Ackermann: Yeah, I feel it would have a meltdown and be like ‘I don’t know why we’re doing this now.’

PAN M 360: Do you still have like the Frankensteined guitar where it’s like different pieces that you’ve put back together after smashing it at the live show?

Oliver Ackermann: All of my guitars are like that (laughs). So I got a bunch of them, and on tour I’ll usually travel with like five guitars and then maybe like three extra guitar necks and then like a box of all sorts of parts and stuff. So then all of these things kind of get like slowly like put together and rotated around through each other. So sometimes it’s like a piece of one to the other. You basically just have to make as many working guitars as you can each night. So, you know, these things get glued back together.

And before I started bringing all of these things, I remember like just sort of breaking some of my first guitars on these tours. So you’d be scrambling. How can I fix this? So some of these guitars have like pieces of like wood from like the forest near the venue. Stuff like that, glued into it and stuff. I think, you know, knowing that when you break something that you can always fix it is sort of a kind of cool, like liberating feeling. Cause I know that like the fear of like having a guitar and like, you know, breaking the headstock off and just being totally devastated and crushed with that. So to not have to worry about that is a good feeling.

PAN M 360: Your live shows are pretty legendary for their intensity and moments of destruction. Last time you were here in Montreal, you kind of pushed the amp into the crowd, and Sandra and John took the drum set into the middle of the floor, and people were throwing around drum parts… Do you always go in with that mentality for this insane, uncontrolled chaos?

Oliver Ackermann: I mean, that’s the goal for me, if possible. Those are the times when you really find you have the most fun as a performer, when things sort of go awry and get a bit out of control. And that’s really fun. I feel the exact same way as an audience member. Those are the shows. It’s like seeing Monotonics live where like the drummer’s trying to play drums while people are holding him up in the air and stuff. All of those kinds of things you’re like, ‘Wow, this is like an insane moment.’

The music isn’t just getting me out of my comfort zones and all of this stuff, but then you’re also getting pushed around and you scream and nobody can hear you or they can or whatever. For me that just takes me out of my head and it’s sort of like really what you want out of a live experience is to sort of, you know, not be thinking your normal everyday thoughts, you know; what things you have planned, if your clothes are clean or whatever it is that is going through your head. I’m sure that’s the same reason why people love like extreme sports and stuff and all of these kinds of things. It’s like, you know, you’re at this sort of like make or break moment of this thing.

PAN M 360: But you also have to be aware, amid all the chaos and sometimes destruction, to make sure that you, as a performer, are safe and the same with the audience?

Oliver Ackermann: Well, we’ll always only break our own stuff that we bring. We’re at least like conscious of that. You know, I’ve seen other people throw guitars out into the crowd with some sort of weird, vicious anger or something. And like, you know, I don’t want to get anybody hurt. For me, one of like the awesomest shows I ever went to was like The Ramones. And it was like this all ages crowd. Everybody’s like fricking slam dancing with the biggest smiles on their faces. And like, there’s the kids in there and stuff and people getting thrown in the air all over the place. And, you know, it might be this like gray memory in my head, but for me, it was like a moment of joy and sort of excitement.

With our shows, I’m not trying to hurt anybody or create anything like that, but I think that there’s like, beautiful moments that can be kind of made with lights changing and shifting and doing these things, and changing perspectives on stage. I think if you can like grab the guitar of the person that’s playing guitar, that’s like breaking the barrier of what even like this sacred space of music and things are, or you get the chance to play drums with Sandra or something. These kinds of moments or, you know, bringing an amp out and you can hear this amp over your head and it’s moving around and you’re passing it to your buddy behind you or something like it’s a crazy kind of moment that could possibly happen.

That doesn’t mean that we don’t throw ourselves into those kind of potentially fucked up situations. I’ll jump into frickin’ mosh pits all the time, get pushed down, my head slammed and stuff. And other people have a different idea of what fun is … or have someone jump on my back or, you know, trying to yank something out of your hand or something. You just gotta, you know, kind of go with the flow in those situations. That’s why I do it.

Nothing predestined the Montrealer of Moroccan origin to settle in Dakar, Senegal. But life saw her settle there first for a professional internship before branching out into art and becoming one of the founders of this major musical event on the continent. Much more than concerts, this festival is a movement. It brings together young artists from all regions of the country, masterclasses led by professionals from South Africa, Unplugged sessions, and the Women Art Academy, dedicated entirely to women. Our journalist Sandra Gasana was there for PAN M 360.

Videography and Photo Credit: Cheikh Oumar Diallo

Television Overdose (or TVOD if you’re cool), first appeared on Vitta Morales’ radar a few years ago when the band played at the Dominion Tavern in Ottawa on one of their countless tours. Immediately, he was impressed by the captivating stage presence, catchy tunes, and the easygoing nature of these post-punk Brooklynites; he had the chance to ask them a few questions to singer and band leader Tyler Wright ahead of their debut album Party Time.

PAN M 360 : Since I’ve started following TVOD, (probably around 2022), I’ve always been impressed by the band’s dedication when it comes to its touring. In an era where bands increasingly forgo this model in favour of online audience cultivation, why does TVOD continue to tour so relentlessly? Is it simply in the spirit of punk to do so?

Tyler Wright : We love playing live and consider our audiences to be just as much a part of the show as we are. Sure, listening to records is great, and being a recording artist who chooses to forgo the live show experience for an online one can be profitable, but I honestly think they’re missing out on a huge element of music that makes live performances irreplaceable. When you’re at a live show, you get to be fully immersed in the world the artist is creating for you. Better yet, you get to experience that with other people, be it friends or strangers.

If the artist on stage is doing a good job, by the end of the show, everyone there should feel connected in some way. Live shows have this cosmic, crazy tendency to do that. Being together in the moment is something I think our society desperately lacks these days. We hope we’re a part of bringing that magic to our audiences and we look forward to playing a lot more wild shows with them in the future.

PAN M 360 : Staying on the subject of touring for a second: I recall a rather candid conversation I had with a TVOD member during a show in Ottawa where he exhaustedly said “I’ve been playing in bands for over twenty years.” I have to say, that stuck with me and I’m wondering: How do you deal with the fatigue that comes with being on the road after so much time? Any best practices?

Tyler Wright : Good lord, I don’t know who said, “20 years”! I might have been over-served that night and forgot how time works. I’ve been obsessed with music since I was a little kid, but I didn’t start playing in bands until 2013, when I moved to NYC. Tour fatigue is very real, and I’ve been a prisoner in more party jails than I can count. I think having best friends as bandmates and practicing self-care on the road helps immensely.

These are some of the rules and suggestions I try to follow while I’m on the road:

Fast food is poison (avoid at all costs).

Sleep as much and as often as possible. Same goes for showers.

It doesn’t matter who smelt it—it was probably Micki, our bassist.

Keep your shirt on when playing in Germany.

Call your wife.

If you see a sign that says “Peep Show,” it doesn’t mean they’re letting you look at presents before Christmas.

PAN M 360 : The singles from the new album so far have featured a lot more synth than in previous TVOD recordings; what other productions and arranging differences can listeners expect to hear on this debut full length?

Tyler Wright : Yeah, there’s definitely a lot more synth on this record. We made it at Gamma Studios with Sam and Felix, and they both had an insane amount of synths we got to mess around with. I think listeners can expect a wider range of genres this time, not just classic guitar power chord punk.

PAN M 360 : You’ve stated previously that the song “Uniform” from this album is about, among other things, the commodification of music and musicians as well as having to go to work while the world is falling apart. I’m curious to know: what is the importance of punk music, as you see it, during an era where everything is in shambles?

Tyler Wright : Punk music is a great vessel to use against oppression. It gives the middle finger to the ones in power and stands up for the little guy. In today’s toxic, capitalist world, I think the punk rock ethos is one of those guiding principles we should all look to for truth.

Punk preaches equality. It teaches us that no one human being ever deserves to control another. Innocent people are dying for greedy oligarchs and draconian governments. Stop purchasing your salvation and go to a punk show. Love one another. FUCK WAR.

PAN M 360 : What are some of your favourite cities to perform in and what do you like about them?

Tyler Wright : We love a lot of places we get to perform in. Montreal is definitely one of our favourites. The first time we played there, it was with our homies No Waves and Piss for Pumpkin at Bar Lesco. It was complete insanity. The Québécois know how to have a good time and then some. Our label Mothland is based there now, and it feels like we’re in Montreal all the time. We joke that it’s our second home. We always love going back to see all the friends we’ve made there. If you’re reading this—Hi Marilyne, JP, Philippe, Max, Rose, Sergio, Felix, Elian, Sam (owes me $20 CAD), Angel, No Waves Sam, Sy, Clarence, Grace, Noelle, Kenny, Alex, Melissa & Laurence! Miss you guys 🙂

PAN M 360 : Are there plans for other full lengths in the near future? I’m only guessing, but I understand that Tyler Wright first conceived of TVOD sometime around 2019 and I can imagine that a back catalogue of songs might exist.

Tyler Wright : Haha, yeah there are definitely plans in the works. I can’t stop writing or I’ll die. That’s the deal I made and the reality that I have to live with. I have no intention of ever breaking that oath.

photo: Kristin Solletico

Volcanic sax player, band leader, composer, improviser, performer, Mats Gustafsson is a regular at FIMAV and on Quebec’s avant-garde stages. FIRE! has already performed in trio form, but with a full orchestra for the first time. To overcome the financial impossibility of touring a large ensemble, FIRE! Orchestra developed the Community Based Activities (CBA) formula, inviting musicians from the markets where the group performs. As a result, 14 musicians from Quebec and Canada will travel to Victoriaville to rehearse ahead of the concert scheduled for May 17. Founded in 2009 by Mats and Johan Berthling, FIRE! is part free jazz, part groove, part psychedelia, part rock. Big Saturday ahead!

PAN M 360 : FIRE! , The Thing, Gush, Swedish Azz, Fake (the facts), Ensemble E, Cosmic Ear and more: is there a hierarchy of your artistic priorities across the bands you’re involved with?

Mats Gustafsson: Every project has its own focus and priorities. But with Fire! Trio and Fire! Orchestra we look at the groups as working groups – which means they are touring a lot and playing festivals and projects as well So, yeah – that is a priority right there. Swedish Azz and Fake (the facts) is on a pause. The thing is over for now. Ensemble E will try to make some festivals and projects in 2026 and 2027.

Cosmic Ear and the upcoming Backengrillen (with the founding members of Refused) will be touring and working as a prioritized group in 2026/27. I feel privileged to be able to work with so many great groups and artists. An amazing possibility to push the music deeper and further.

PAN M 360: You record a lot, your Bandcamp page is quite impressive ! Has this become a way of life, or is it simply a state of your high energy as a bandleader, composer and player ?

Mats Gustafsson: My Bandcamp is run by Trost and Catalytic and I am not really active here. I just don’t have the time to spend on such. I like to make records and I like to collect records. I like my music to be available – so, yes, Bandcamp is a good platform to find stuff. I try to hold back on releasing records that are just documents from live shows. I prefer to work on an album in a real studio with all what that means. At the moment there are so many great projects going on. Time is not enough. I try my best to keep sane in this immense flow of new projects and ideas. There is no other way than just put everything you have into it. All my dedication, love and energy have to go into these projects. No holding back. If the energy is not there, I rather stay home.

It is important to record the projects you are involved in. In order to make records and from there getting possibilities to work at festivals and clubs. In order to spread the music. There is no point letting your records just stay filed on a shelf somewhere. You bring them to sell / give away on tour. That is our responsibility towards the listener, as artists.

I love the act of making records. Making albums. Real albums with a track order, cover, liner notes, artwork and design. I am totally allergic to the one click / algorithms mechanics of today. Real albums for real people. Playlists are cassettes only.

PAN M 360: Over the past few years, what have been your most motivating projects?

Mats Gustafsson: Every project needs to be motivated. Otherwise, I would rather stay home. No question. If I don’t feel 100 % about a project it is put on hold or just stopped. I need to be totally true to the music and the people I work with. There is no other way. I need to find a balance between working groups / long-running projects (Fire!, GUSH, AALY Trio etc) and new projects and ad hoc situations. I need both. And one is feeding the other with content, energy and inspiration.

It has been a ball starting up some new projects in the last few years. “Cosmic Ear” and “Backengrillen” most of all.

Last week a new project started up: “Action Now” initiated by the great Norwegian bass player Nicolas Leirtrø together with Kit Downes on organ and Veslemøy Narvesen on drums. Hilarious. Next year will see the light of a great garage/ beat / free jazz group: “The Mag-Nuts” with the great Norwegian guitar slayer Hedvig Mollestad.

New shit will continue to happen. There is no lack of ideas, I can tell you that. No rest for the wicked. But it IS an amazing time for creative music. So many great younger players around at the moment.

PAN M 360: Your Cosmic Ear project is launching an album at the end of the month. Could you briefly describe this project and its members? How does it fit in with your other projects?

Mats Gustafsson: It fits like a hand in a glove! This is an old dream of Goran and myself. To create a smaller group setting where we can play together and very much to include our hero and maestro Christer Bothén. It took some years to decide…. And to find the perfect line up. Now we have it. Great without a regular drummer and just percussion. It opens up the music and gives a lot of space for the string instruments of Christer´s. We are picking bits and pieces up from the legacy of Don Cherry and also deeper folk music from Mali, Morocco and Scandinavia. Mixing it up with some live electronics and all. Very psyched about this group!

PAN M 360: Does FIRE! Orchestra, as a trio, tour a lot? Does it operate in creative cycles, with other projects in between?

Mats Gustafsson: Fire! as a trio is touring a lot now. We have a new agent: Swamp booking. They are great. We are more busy than ever. After having an almost 2 year long pause. Music is happening and we look forward to all coming up. So, at the moment we do 4 tours a year plus projects, residencies and festivals. So, yeah – we have never been this busy before. A good feel.

All three of us do other projects in between, but we really try to put prio on the work with the trio and the Fire! Orchestra. The new version of the Fire! Orchestra will be with 19 members of the group and we will have our premiere of the new piece “WORDS” in November of this year. Expect more riffs!!

PAN M 40: FIRE! has 18 recordings – that’s a lot! Do you have any favorites?

Mats Gustafsson: 18 recordings? With the trio and orchestra and special projects? Wow. That is a lot. Ha ha. But we have been active for a long time now. Starting in 2009 already. The idea is to release a studio album every 2^nd or 3^rd year, both with the trio and the orchestra. It is a good plan, we believe. The upcoming one is always my favorite. I cannot point any fav out. I have to say I am very happy and proud of all we did. To run an orchestra in these times…. And to tour with it IS impossible. And we wanna show that the impossible is still possible. We want to pay our members decently, so we turn a lot of offers down. But, somehow it works out… and we are still on our feet. It is truly amazing to work with a large ensemble and we are super happy about the new idea of CBA (Community based activities) where we work with local musicians. As in Victoriaville. It is a win-win. We extend our circles / network – getting new people into the Fire! Orchestra family. And the local scene is getting connected to our music. And in theory it should be cheaper for the local presenter to do this. So, we do both CBA projects 4 -5 times a year and the regular activity with Fire! Orchestra. We just finished the ECHOES version with a concert in Gdansk in Poland. And we look fwd to play parts of ECHOES (and some new stuff) in Canada.

PAN M 360: What have been the latest developments in the ensemble?

Mats Gustafsson: Well, the addition of some new names is what is affecting it the most. We are writing very specifically for the members of the group, in the same manner as Duke Ellington and Sun RA did. Using the individual voices of the group in a collective setting. So, we actually managed to include a few people from previous CBA projects into the band. That Is the way it works, and should work. The inclusion of Anna Neubert – violin and Emily Wittbrodt – cello gives us a very cool string trio with our own Anna Lindal on violin. And to have Maria Portugal on drums and vocals is just great. Spectacular! The young and fantastic Adia Vanheerentals on tenor and soprano sax. The spectacular Mariam Rezaei on turntables and electronics and of course so great to include Canadian Lina Allemano on trumpet. We will be 19 persons in this new line up. A mix of new names and some from our old pool of Fire! Orchestra related artists. There will be riffs. There will be Fire!

PAN M 360: How can you briefly describe the trio’s formal evolution? What is the basis for our work today?

Mats Gustafsson: Simply stripping things down. When we recorded our latest album “Testament” with Steve Albini in Chicago we decided to take things down a bit regarding instruments and all. So, now we are focusing on what we can do with only baritone sax, electric bass and drums.

No electronics, no keyboards, no extra instruments (well, a bit of flute can’t hurt….). It creates an open music of endless possibilities. What the future will give us, we have no idea. But in 2025 this is what we are working on.

In the beginning there were a massive amount of extra instruments and lots of noise electronics and all. I love that as well. But at the moment, this is what Fire! is all about.

PAN M 360 : Please tell us about the specific strengths of the members of your trio.

Mats Gustafsson: They are just the BEST! As persons. As musicians. Tight, open and full of energy! Andreas and Johan have a magic power of locking into each other’s groove. It is like telepathy. And it was the same vibe from day one. We are having FUN together. And we respect each other to 100 %. It is all about trust and respect.

PAN M 360 : Why did you propose this specific ensemble for your Quebec dates?

Mats Gustafsson: We really wanted to play with Fire! Orchestra in North America, but it was impossible to fly over with 19 people. And impossible to play in the USA at the moment. I would need to sell my record collection in order to bring 19 people over. And I am not ready to part with it yet. So we decided to go for a CBA version instead after discussions with Scott.

It was a very creative discussion with Scott about the line up. We had to stay at 5 original Fire! Orchestra members flying over because of budget. In our CBA projects we usually travel with 5- 7 people and the rest are local. It was a creative affair and quite easy. I know a lot of the names and have already played with a few of them. Of all the CBAs we have been doing this is perhaps the most exciting line -up. I kid you not! The Line up looks amazing. Total KILLER. Great scouting from Scott & Co. He is a musician himself, so he made it easy for us.

PAN M 360: In the extended line-up, can you explain how you went about doing this?

Fire! trio was on tour in Europe in 2011 and after the final gig of the tour we had a sit down. We made a 3am decision to gather all our musician friends in Stockholm and play TRIO music. Done deal. We met and played “Exit” at Fylkingen in Stockholm in 2012. 28 musicians playing their brains out, smiling. We had to continue. No question. We did many new pieces after that, all with different line ups. Including a rewrite of Penderecki’s “Actions for free jazz”, with the composers’ blessings. Fire! Orchestra is very much alive and continuously changing. That is a necessity.

PAN M 360: How do you distribute instructions to the musicians?

Mats Gustafsson: These days, there is a google Drive file – with sheet music, music files, links, videos and what not. We have a rough plan of what to play. Most is material from our latest version “Echoes” , but we might do a couple of new pieces as well. Plus some open formations. Ad hoc formations and solos. It all depends on how the rehearsals go. We can change things around a lot until the gig. Some musicians have emailed us asking about specific things and we try to answer it all. It will all be clear when we meet and rehearse together. That is key to having a few days of working together. Learning to know each other and get familiar with the ensemble sound of this version. We can’t wait.

PAN M 360: How do you balance composition and improv in a large band context ? Are there some written parts ?

Mats Gustafsson: Wait and see / hear!! Yes, there is a mix of written arrangements and composed materials and melodies. The basic riffs are the foundation for all our music. So, riff you will hear! Horn arrangements by Mats Äleklint who is joining us on this trip. Bad ass trombone. The loudest and greatest around. I am doing a lot of conductions as well, controlling and fucking up the forms and structures. The conductions can and will appear at any point of the piece. Indicating certain arrangements, solos and instant composings. It will be all different. The rehearsals will be one thing- and the concert might be something entirely different. Let’s see. We have 5 -6 pieces that we will do, all having arrangements and a basic form idea. There will be a lot of space for open bridges between those pieces. And also introductions and outros that will change from day to day. Johan and I are communicating during the piece and will be able to change things around in a split second, when it is needed.

PAN M 360: How do you see the act of conducting such a large ensemble ? What are the challenges ?Mats Gustafsson: See above. As long as people are attentive there are no real problems. Just JOY! I work with quite simple signs and conductions and usually they are not really hard to follow. No rocket science here. I love conducting – and it is such a privilege to do it with great musicians. And this lineup is spectacular! Pure JOY!

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Publicité panam

Modibo Keita grew up in Montreal, is a trombonist by training and plays as much as he can when he’s not programming at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal. Since the introduction of the event’s new artistic direction, jazz has once again become a priority in outdoor programming, in order to revive interest and eventually bring the most unifying artists to the concert halls. To this end, the programming team has recruited a true jazz musician, and a connoisseur of both tradition and the contributions of new generations, in the person of Modibo Keita. Here, he helps us uncover the musts of the program, both indoors and out, far beyond the obvious ones also mentioned in his nomenclature. Alain Brunet interviewed him for PAN M 360.

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Quebec virtuosos Serhiy Salov and Jean-Philippe Sylvestre were chosen by Marc Boucher to team up in a program involving works for piano 4 hands for one piano (Fauré, Beethoven, Bizet) or 2 pianos (Saint-Saëns). Classica’s artistic director explains his choice to Alain Brunet for PAN M 360, in the context of a separate interview for each program. This program will be presented on June 5.

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PROGRAM

Gabriel Fauré

Suite Dolly, op. 56, for piano four hands

L.V Beethoven

Sonate en ré majeur, op. 6, for piano four hands
Georges Bizet

Jeux d’enfants, Op. 22, suite for piano four hands

Camille Saint-Saëns

Carnaval des animaux, op. 9, version for two pianos

Publicité panam

The artistic direction of the Classica festival has assembled an all-female quartet of Quebec cellists: Kateryna Bragina, Chloé Dominguez, Agnès Langlois and Noémie Raymond. Composers from different eras will be highlighted in this propitious context: Nadia Boulanger, Isabella Leonarda, Hildegarde von Bingen and even Charlotte Cardin! There will also be Debussy, Monteverdi, Bruch, Corrette and Carlos Gardel, the world’s first modern crooner. Marc Boucher came up with the idea for Violoncelles au féminin, a program scheduled for June 4. He defends his choice in this fragment of a long interview conducted by Alain Brunet.

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Program

Claude Debussy (1862–1918)

Rêverie

Nadia Boulanger (1887–1979)

Three pieces for cello and piano

Claude Debussy

La Fille aux cheveux de lin

Isabella Leonarda (1620–1704)

Sonate
Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643)

Pur ti miro

Hildegarde von Bingen (1098–1179)

[pieces to be determined]

Max Bruch (1838–1920)

Kol Nidrei

Michel Corrette (1707–1795)

Le Phénix

Charlotte Cardin (1994– )

Confetti

Carlos Gardel (1890–1935)

Por una cabeza

The Köln concert, or Cologne concert, was performed by Keith Jarrett on January 24, 1975, 50 years ago. The public recording became the most listened-to solo piano improvisation in recording history (around one hour), and certainly the locomotive of the repertoire of the German label ECM, founded and still run by Manfred Eicher. This is certainly one of the emblematic jazz albums of the 70s, whose aura confers mythical status. To commemorate the half-century of this recording, Marc Boucher, artistic director and founder of the Classica festival, dreamed up a transcription of the improvisation for string quartet by François Vallières, performed by violist Elvira Misbakhova, cellist Stéphane Tétreault and violinists Antoine Bareil and Marie Bégin. Marc Boucher is invited to tell us more in this fragment of a long interview conducted by Alain Brunet for PAN M 360.

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Publicité panam

Amanda Harvey, also known as IRL, is one of Montrealʼs most engaged sound artists and musicians. Her studied approach comes from years of actively creating communities and nourishing her understanding of sound. If IRLʼs soundscapes represent this depth, it is because they inspire themselves from various listening practices with vast social meaning.

From being a core member of ffiles, a feminist radio collective, to co-producing A Kind of Harmony with Julia Dyck—which investigates multidisciplinary sound practices through a social and environmental lens—Amanda Harvey follows where the heart leads and isnʼt afraid to question her own beliefs. What is between the ears—but more importantly, what does the body feel? Her sound is crafted with deep care and a heightened sensitivity to space, as it speaks to be heard.

The approach to space as a medium in her works will inevitably lead to interesting results in S.A.T.ʼs dome, as she prepares for her Substrat performance on Thursday May 1st, sharing the stage with Bénédicte, Micheal Gary Deen & Freddy Speer. In this interview, Amanda Harvey talks about her learnings from A Kind of Harmony, the importance of community, the evolution of her spatialization practice, and her approach to embodied sound.

PAN M 360: I’m wondering if we turn the tables: what are some important lessons that you’ve learned producing A Kind of Harmony that have affected your own discipline?

IRL: One thing I definitely learned came from one of the participants of this current season—the person I just mentioned, AM the geographer. In their interview, they talk about how not all spaces—natural spaces—want to be recorded. And so, when you approach recording a natural or outdoor space, you should sit with that space and see if the intention is there for you to record. Sometimes the space is going to refuse you, or you’re going to feel as though you’re not actually, in that moment, welcome. This is something I had never encountered in all my years of researching sound, place, and space. I found it extremely eye-opening because it wasnʼt a practice I personally had. Moving forward, if Iʼm doing field recording of any sort and arrive in a space that feels like it doesnʼt want to be recorded or remembered in that moment or in that way, I wonʼt actually record. Thatʼs been a major takeaway Iʼve learned from this season.

PAN M 360: Wow, thatʼs very interesting—itʼs like a completely different approach to listening. Almost like listening to the space as being.

IRL: Exactly. Iʼm pretty sure they say something along those lines—like, you have to sit with and listen to the space, and the space will tell you whether or not you should take that recording. Because it is extractive in a sense.

Another participant we interviewed, Sandra Volney, who is actually based here, looks at how recording sounds of the earth can actually alert us to global warming and the earth heating up. I knew conceptually that this was possible, but speaking with an artist who puts that into practice and works with scientists to collect this data and create sound works from it was also super eye-opening for me.

PAN M 360: That makes a lot of sense to me, because you’re connecting people with their sensitivity—it makes the issue more personal. In this sense, Iʼm curious about your own practice of retrieving sounds. You’ve explained thereʼs a preliminary approach of listening to the space. Has this changed your way of listening over time?

IRL: I think especially over the last year, my way of listening has shifted—not only because of producing the podcast, but also due to things that have happened in my own life. Before, when I approached field recording or recording natural or outdoor environments, I would be a little hasty. Whereas now, I feel I really need to sit in a space and ground myself before I record.

I think a lot more intention goes into it now—like, feeling how the sound resonates in my body and whether or not thatʼs something I want, you know, an active memory of, something I can refer back to. So Iʼve become a lot more intentional, and maybe a bit pickier, about what I record, when, and what those recordings are used for. Because I donʼt think everything needs to be shared. Itʼs very sensitive—it feels a lot more intimate now than before.

PAN M 360: When you talk about the importance of knowing what itʼs going to be used for, I guess itʼs also a question of where itʼs going to be played and who itʼs going to be played to. How has that relationship between audience, sound, and space evolved for you? I know you organize and play events in Montreal and are very involved in the community. Is this, to you, a way of bringing the impact of what you’re learning into a wider sense?

IRL: Yeah, definitely. I was part of a long-running collective that still exists today— the ffiles, a radio collective. When I was working with them, we were very feminist-focused. That really rooted me in the wider community in Montreal and drew a parallel between my sound art practice and my relationship with the community here.

That platform allowed me to meet many people and gave artists a space to discuss their work. We had an n10.as show for many years where we booked people—mostly queer, fem-identified, and LGBTQIA folks—to come on and play. It helped me grow and build my relationships within the community.

I also want to say that without the community around me and the people Iʼve met in Montreal, I wouldnʼt have a music or radio practice. Iʼve had a lot of people offer me time, energy, and platforms to showcase what I can offer. Without that support, I honestly donʼt think Iʼd have a practice at all.

PAN M 360: I guess you could say you have a pretty solid base. You’re doing n10.as, A Kind of Harmony, you’re part of ffiles, and now youʼre doing Substrat at the S.A.T. How do you see this moment in your development as an artist?

IRL: Itʼs a huge moment in many ways. How do I want to put this… itʼs pushed me to elevate my workflow and creative practice in a way I was kind of avoiding. Iʼm completely self-taught—I didnʼt go to music school or take lessons. Most of what Iʼve learned has come from friends or learning on my own, intuitively. This show has shown me where I need to improve in order to excel—or at least to showcase work that sounds good on a basic level.

PAN M 360: What would you say is something you had to work on in preparation for Substrat?

IRL: Because I work primarily with hardware and modular synths, I had to focus more on using a DAW. I had to learn a lot about audio routing—which I knew nothing about before—and also understand general recording rules: levels, frequencies, EQ.

When I produce, itʼs mostly just vibes—and in a live context, that doesnʼt always translate. Iʼve played shows with gear that sounded terrible, and I walked away from those shows feeling defeated, not really knowing where I went wrong. But this project pushed me to see where I need to grow. Iʼm still learning a lot as a musician. Working in a space like the dome requires so much to produce a piece thatʼs engaging, sounds beautiful, and also functions technically. Itʼs been extremely challenging, but Iʼm very grateful to have been pushed.

PAN M 360: I’m sure learning all this spatialization wonʼt go to waste. You’ve done it before at the PHI Centre, and it seems like it’s becoming part of your practice. Do you think about space when you’re creating a piece?

IRL: Thatʼs a great question. When Pablo, the engineer we were working with at the S.A.T., heard some of my sounds, he said: “Okay, a lot of your sounds are recorded in this kind of spatial way—theyʼre already spatialized in how theyʼre composed.ˮ

In my practice, I always think about using sound to envelop the listener and put them in a trance, so they lose track of time—take them out of the space and into their body.

PAN M 360: Talking about space—what do you think about Substratʼs use of the dome exclusively for sound? And more broadly, how do you feel about visuals over music—or the lack thereof?

IRL: When they book you for the series, they tell you: there are no visuals in the dome. Personally, I prefer that. Visuals, especially when you’re confronted with screens, really change the experience. I’d love to perform in a space where people can just close their eyes, and I’m not even part of the performance—where all they hear is the sound. Thatʼs literally a dream come true for me.

Of course, visuals can enhance a performance. If I were working with a VJ, I know exactly who Iʼd choose and the kind of material theyʼd use—it could definitely enhance it. But visuals can overpower or detract from the experience of sound.

With sound, you can sit in it and create your own meaning—or sometimes the meaning already exists in your body. Visuals can pull you out of that embodied listening.

It would be amazing to have an ongoing series exploring this kind of space—it really does sound incredible in there.

PAN M 360: Are there any other projects you want to plug for the people whoʼve made it this far?

IRL :Go check out the second season of A Kind of Harmony. Otherwise, no other projects—just IRL. You can find me on SoundCloud or my website irluman.com.

PAN M 360: Or in real life

IRL: Yes—or in real life. Iʼm definitely around. Youʼll see me dancing probably somewhere this or next weekend. Iʼm going to start putting together an album— look out for that.

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After the release of Good Grief in 2022 and his five-song EP If I was I am in 2023, Bells Larsen is back with Blurring Time, a beautiful nine-song album where past and present coexist, sometimes tugging at each other, for a moment that will never exist anywhere else but on the album. An immortalization of a passage through art where the artist, then in a process of transition, wanted to say goodbye to his former identity, like a farewell gift, intertwining it with his present.

There is one voice frame for the high notes by the ‘Bells of before’ and one for the low notes by the ‘Bells of now,’ after the testosterone intake. The result is a melodious, intimate duet that brilliantly records in music, and in history, this period of change that he wanted to be marked by benevolence rather than sadness.

The singles “514-415,” “Blurring Time” and “Might,” accompanied by his video clips, immediately set the tone for his gentle, comforting folk, with a touch of magic in the arrangements, and always with well-dosed vocals. This unique approach led to the artist being refused access to the United States, where he was due to perform live, and this was recently publicized in the media.

Marilyn Bouchard spoke to Bells Larsen about his creative process, the collaborators on the album and the changes he has experienced and will experience in the future, since they are never finished.

PAN M 360: Where did you get the idea of combining your old voice with your new one on the album?

Bells Larsen: Writing this album, in the space of a year, I understood who I was. I wrote “Blurring Time” first and “Might” last … but in reality it could have been called I’m gonna’ because it was no longer a possibility but a certainty. I realised at that point that I had to make certain decisions to be more authentic to myself, like starting to use testosterone. It was really difficult for me to decide whether I wanted to capture the album with my old voice or wait until after the transition and record it only with the new one. But in a way it was a bit worrying for me because there was an element of uncertainty in not knowing how my instrument would be modified. So, just to be on the safe side, I thought I’d record with my old voice first … and then as I thought about it I said to myself ‘You know what, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone mix documentation on their transition like that’ and at the same time there was a trend on Tik Tok at the time with duets where everyone was doing duets with a modified version of themselves … so I thought it would be a nice … farewell and welcome present to give myself.

PAN M 360: Since you’ve got a new voice, does that mean you’re taking inspiration from different sounds, since your instrument has changed?

Bells Larsen: Yes, absolutely! Really! It’s a bit like learning French: you have access to lots of new options that you didn’t have before! It allows me to understand and experiment with my instrument in new ways. Just as the French language gives me new rhymes to play with, my new voice gives me access to tones I didn’t have before.

PAN M 360: You said in an interview that this album was born more out of necessity than choice? Why is that?

Bells Larsen: I think it was necessary to understand myself better. My relationship with my identity isn’t one where it’s black or white…this or that…one or the other. Even though I’m a guy, even though I’ve made decisions to transition, I take so many things with me from my old version. And I thought it was important that this other me should accompany me in my transition, not only with the music but also for the rest of my life. I could have just recorded my voice before or just after my transition, but I made the musical choice of both… out of the need for me as a person to be in tune with everything I am, was, and will be.

PAN M 360: There are several places in Montreal that feature in your lyrics: Outremont, the Clark/Duluth corner. Is your art influenced by the city where you live?

Bells Larsen: Yes, of course! Montreal is so beautiful! It’s a magnificent city! I split my time between Toronto and Montreal, and I have a friend who used to live in Montreal and moved back to Toronto who said something like: ‘You go to Toronto for your friends, your connections … it’s really a social city. Montreal is an experience…’, and I couldn’t have said it better myself. Montreal is an experience where all your senses are active. You can smell it, feel it, taste it, see it. I feel very inspired as an artist by Montreal, because it’s such an artistic city too.

PAN M 360: You said that the lens through which we look at the past in the case of a transition is often sad or tinged with regret, but that you wanted instead to make this passage a celebration, filled with kindness and gratitude. Can you explain your vision to us?

Bells Larsen: First of all, I really want to emphasize that this is my own perception and experience of the whole thing, but I completely understand that some people will need to grieve in their own way, which can sometimes be sadder, needing to put the old version of themselves aside so that the new one can really be born. Just to say that all feelings are valid. I grew up watching the Canadian show Degrassi and I also watched several coming-out videos, even before I did mine, and in many of the performances I saw… let’s say in Degrassi when there was a trans person talking, you saw the old version of that person and there was a lot of sad music playing in the background, in the coming-out videos on YouTube there wasn’t necessarily a sad tone but…a clear dichotomy (which I completely understand)…so in the end it was often more melancholy and I found myself less in it. It was less my reality because at the start I’d thought I might be non-binary… like I was a mix.

As I said in the song “Blurring Time,” I used to think I was ‘both and more’ and now I understand that it’s more of a binary side that I fall into but I have a lot of dualities, complexities, influences that cohabit within me and I couldn’t be the person I am now without all the versions of me from the past. So that’s kind of what I wanted to celebrate on the album, and I wanted it to be a gentle celebration of both of my selfs.

PAN M 360: The arrangements on the album are minimalist and uncluttered. Was this a choice to leave more room for the vocals?

Bells Larsen : Yes, exactly! I wanted the vocals to be at the forefront and on the other hand too… I write all my music in my bedroom, sitting on my bed, it’s quite intimate. And I just love the quality of the vocal memos when the song has just been written. I think I wanted that intimate quality too. That when someone listens to the music they can feel that they’re next to me now…and next to me before. That the two versions of me are on either side of the listener.

PAN M 360: You had already worked with Graham Ereaux on Good Grief, what was different about the creative process this time?

Bells Larsen : Honestly, I’d say there were times when it wasn’t easy. It’s really connected with my mental health and also my self-esteem and self-confidence. Before I was really ‘I’m flexible, I’m good to go with whatever’ but when you’re more sure of what you want, what your limits are and you’re more direct with it… It’s really good but when you had relationships that existed with a lot of ease, it creates a contrast let’s say. When I recorded the voice aloud, I hadn’t yet started the testosterone and I was still unsure… still a bit shy. Then I cultivated so much self-esteem and understanding of who I am in the interim, also thanks to a fantastic shrink…. I knew a lot more about who I was. So maybe that was shocking for some people. And Graham really is the sweetest person, it’s not about him but about the world in general and my relationship to it that has changed. I’ve lost a few links in the process, through alignment, but Graham’s not in that!

PAN M 360: You also worked with Georgia Harmer on this album, who is a childhood friend of yours, what was that like?

Bells Larsen : It was the most natural thing in the world. I’m at my parents’ flat right now and I see the guitar she gave me for my 18th birthday. I played all my first shows with Georgia on that guitar. I’ve got more or less a decade’s experience of working with her, and the reason I went looking for her for this project was because she had a really intimate relationship with my old voice. So she’s definitely going to help me with the new one. She’s also such a talented musician, with a really interesting way of thinking about harmonies. She understands things. She knows where to give and where to take away, how to create impact… and I’m really glad I went looking for her for that.

PAN M 360: Queer time is a subject that fascinates you and inspired you to write this album. Would you like to tell us a bit about it?

Bells Larsen : I think the queer and trans world experience time differently from cisgender or straight people, mainly because we find out a bit later in life. In any case, that’s been true for me since I’ve come out several times – I’ve already identified myself with each of the letters in the LGBTQ acronym. I’m 27 but at the same time I feel like I’m 3 years old. I’m just learning about my desires, my wishes, my limits… because it’s only now that I can cultivate and discover that. I have other friends my age who are having babies. A queer timeline isn’t chronological…but it’s not unchronological either. My timeline is so blurry, so all over the place. I’m me now. But I’ve always been me. And I’m still the me I was. All that coexists.

PAN M 360: You recently announced that you’d had to cancel a series of concerts in the United States, because of the worrying climate there these days and also because of complications related to the fact that you’re trans. Can we find out more?

Bells Larsen : Yeah, it’s been a week and a half since I announced that and it’s only been a few days since my album came out, so I think it’s only natural that the album and the fact that I’m a politicized artist should be mixed together. I welcome that and I understand it. And I hope my album can be a comfort to my community, especially those living in the US, to people who feel isolated and oppressed by the new regulations. I hope that music can humanize the community… because people hate what they don’t understand and are afraid of the unknown. I hope my music can show that I’m just a person wanting to get closer to myself and that it’s not something unique to trans people. I think it’s really beautiful that within the trans community there’s a propensity to explore oneself. I’m going to manage the situation and concentrate on Quebec, Canada and Europe. And I think I’m less in shock now, I understand the current situation.

PAN M 360: What’s in store for the rest of 2025?

Bells Larsen: There are a lot of shows coming up (not in the US but elsewhere haha)! Yes, there’s Toronto, Hamilton, and Montreal too, which is sold out and I’m very excited. Then there are the festivals and even more Quebec dates to come until the autumn. I’ll be touring Canada with one of my heroes, and we’ll be playing some big venues!

The 2025-26 season of the Salle Bourgie has just been launched, and it promises to be a particularly exciting one. It will be the 15th season for this now venerable institution, created thanks to an exemplary collaboration between the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and philanthropist Pierre Bourgie. After the remarkable reign of Isolde Lagacé, it is now four years since Oliver Godin, Artistic Director, and Caroline Louis, General Manager, took over the helm and set the course for an annual programme that is as colourful and high quality as ever.

I had a quick chat with the two indefatigable music lovers about the upcoming season, and their favourites (always an impossibly difficult exercise).

Asked what they have learnt from their years of programming at Salle Bourgie, Olivier quickly replies that the Montreal public is extraordinary. ‘’It’s an audience that follows us in our choices and the directions where we want to take the venue‘’. He also mentions the versatility of the hall, which allows for a number of configurations, as well as privileged and intimate encounters with some very big international and local names.

The good news is that young people are also present: ‘People always say that classical music is for greyheads, but we have an increasing number of under-34s, and that’s great to see. Of course, we love our greyheads with all our heart, they’re the core of our audience, but it’s inspiring to see that our strategies for acquiring another audience are bearing fruit‘’, says Olivier Godin. Caroline Louis points out that over the past three years, this segment has doubled, and now accounts for an average of over 15% of the audience. A more than respectable figure, given that the repertoire is often more niche classical music than the symphony fare.

For the season as a whole, there’s no need to draw up a long grocery list here, especially as the details are available on the venue’s website, but suffice it to mention the continuation of the complete Schubert lieder series with (brace yourself!) Wolfgang Holzmair in what will be one of his last recitals before retirement, Anne-Sofie von Otter, rising star Andrè Schuen, Samuel Hasselhorn, the exceptional Victoire Bunel, and many others. There will be a strong piano focus, with visits from Leif Ove Andsnes, a residency by Kristian Bezuidenhout, the explosive Beatrice Rana, a complete Prokofiev with David Jalbert, Quebec’s Élizabeth Pion, the eagerly awaited return of Vikingur Olafsson in Bach, Beethoven and Schubert, Alexandre Tharaud, an all-too rare appearance by Dang Thai Son, the spectacular Fazil Say, and so much more, including an event that promises to be memorable: the meeting of Marc-André Hamelin and Charles Richard-Hamelin!

Violinists galore (Christian Tetzlaff, Jinjoo Cho, Andrew Wan, Tabea Zimmermann (viola)), cello, flute, guitar and more. In contemporary music, there will be some fine acts, including the excellent New York vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth, with repertoire by Missy Mazzoli and Caroline Shaw, among others. There’s also the Duo Étrange (as it’s called), made up of soprano Vanessa Croome and cellist Sahara von Hattenberger, with a new work by Nicole Lizée. Les Violons du Roy, Les Idées heureuses, Arion Orchestre Baroque and other regulars are still there. Collectif9, the highly innovative string ensemble from Montreal, will be taking us on a journey through the various iterations of the Passacaglia, from Frescobaldi to Ligeti.

‘’It’s very important for us to give a platform to local artists. They make up half our programme‘’ – Olivier Godin

Jazz (Jazzlab Orchestra, the inescapable Taurey Butler and his Charlie Brown Christmas, François Bourassa in duet with Marie-Josée Simard, the Cordâme ensemble and its beautiful show Fabula Femina, the Kate Wyatt Quartet, one of the best pianists in Canada today, and a Montrealer, a tribute to Pat Metheny, etc.) and world music (Zal Sissokho and his poetic West African kora that will meet jazz, Yiddish music by the Likht Ensemble and composers killed or who survived the Holocaust, a unique encounter between the venerable 92-year-old Alanis Obomsawin and two-time Polaris winner Jeremy Dutcher, in an intimate piano-voice version) are always on the bill, of course, not forgetting the unmissable visits by musicians from the OSM and the OM. Also, uncommon but very interesting : two concerts that will combine music with modern dance.

‘’We’re happy to programme established names, but we also like to provoke encounters, try things out and, perhaps, act as a precursor, by merging worlds‘’ – Olivier Godin

There’s a lot more, so take a look at the brochure, which is now available.

Before ending the interview, I couldn’t resist asking the two enthusiasts a few tough questions.

Your most emotional moment in perspective? Olivier Godin: ‘’I’d have to say André Shuen’s recital. This will be his first time in Montreal and he’s a young baritone with an extraordinary interiority. He’ll be mixing lieder by Schubert and Mahler, set to movingly beautiful texts by a number of poets, which we’ll be able to follow above the performer. It’ll be a very moving journey, for sure‘’.

Caroline Louis: ‘’It’s so difficult, but I can’t fail to mention Wolfgang Holzmair’s final concert, performing Schubert’s Winterreise.

Oh well, another one : your most surprising moment? Olivier: ‘’Perhaps the concert of improvisations on keyboards (piano, harpsichord, organ) by Ilya Poletaev, who will play spontaneously on images from the last century chosen by the director of the FIFA (Festival international du film sur l’art de Montréal).’’ Cinema, surveillance cameras, NASA images and AI creations, a whole ensemble that paints a broad and fragmented portrait of a century of images.

Caroline : ‘’The concert by Fazil Say, who will be playing the Goldberg Variations alongside his own compositions.’’

Let’s meet often at the Sherbrooke street west hall.

Consult the online program of season 25-26

List of concerts on Bourgie Hall’s website