Recording: Shalabi Effect

Artist: Shalabi Effect

Songs: Third Section [in two parts]

Recorded at Jam Factory (Intersection 2015 – Day 2 / The Music Gallery's Departures Series), September 6, 2015.

Shalabi Effect - Third Section, part 1

Shalabi Effect - Third Section, part 2

These longstanding stalwarts of Montréal's experimental music scene exist amongst an intertwining network of other projects, so it was a rare treat to see them playing this T.O. date. Co-founder Sam Shalabi (also busy with his solo work and Land of Kush) brings the influence of his time in Cairo, and his work on oud is one of the band's distinctive elements. At this show, however, it was his moog that provided the most unexpected moments when a loose cable started sending static shards through the PA, much to the band's confusion. That required a slight mid-set pause in what was otherwise a constantly-shifting soundscape that ranged from tabla grooves to electronic drones — a mix that made sense under the quartet's carefully-considered sound-shaping.

[After this offsite excursion, the Music Gallery's season gets going at St. George the Martyr Church with Friday's presentation of In the Sea (featuring Tristan Honsinger) and The Visit — and leading up to next month's X Avant Festival.]