by RAF KATIGBAK

It's hard to miss. Stroll west along Montreal's Old Port from St-Laurent and you'll see it standing defiant like a 45-metre, steel-reinforced middle finger in the face of the surrounding gentrification. Abandoned in 1996, Silo #5 has received a new lease on life thanks to two young Montreal-based artists known as [The User]. Using strategically placed loudspeakers, microphones, next-level telecommunications technology and the building's 22 seconds of natural reverb, Thomas McIntosh and Emmanuel Madan converted the Silo into a giant interactive sound installation, playable from anywhere with a good Internet connection. ([The User]'s CD Abandon is now out on the noted label Asphodel). What's the sound of one building singing? The Mirror talked to the duo to find out.

Mirror: The logistics of playing a giant concrete building from miles away seems so complicated. Did you ever get tempted to just fake it with a reverb box?

Thomas McIntosh: A lot of people say, isn't this just a big reverb thing? Well, yeah, but it's down there, and made of concrete and two storeys high and it wasn't built for that. There is no substitute.

Emmanuel Madan: That's one of the things about this project. It stakes a claim in this building that until then had been empty for 10 years. In our view it's a really important building - a lot of Montrealers identify with it.

M: So how difficult is it to play, anyway?

TM: It's hard. Once we played it in France but because of the time difference, the show took place in the middle of the night and because the sun wasn't shining on the Silo, the air inside the column was colder and so it went out of tune. All this frequency stuff we had prepared didn't work so we had to transpose everything. The fact that that happens shows that it's not just a reverb.

M: What does the future hold for the Silo?

EM: Well, conventional wisdom says it'll probably get knocked down, especially with all the urban pressure around that area. But we tried to find a way to interpose ourselves in the discussion without muscling in. It's a very light intervention. Nevertheless, it makes a complete difference in how the building is perceived.

At the SAT for FCMM on Monday, Oct. 13, Abandon CD launch in the Café at 5pm, free, Mass/Volume performance in the Studio at 8pm, $9

>> Music Listings