by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

"I love the audience," says A Vertical Mosaic's Ali Rahman in a fit of uncharacteristic philanthropy. "I think a lot of avant-gardists don't give a fuck about the audience. It's art for art's sake, and it's self-indulgent."

Avant-garde navel gazing is, to be fair, one element of the Montreal trio's sound, sitting pretty at the crossroads of post-rock, sound art and electro-pop. But their navels are there for all to gaze at, just not in the manner of Britney Spears' admittedly adorable belly button. AVM can't help but stop short of pure pop.

"I think it might be a failing of ours, in terms of songwriting. The way we do it, for the most part, consists of infinite layering, getting out as many ideas as possible. We kitchen-sink our recordings - everything goes in, and then the editing process is all subtraction, pulling stuff out. There's this notion that every song has to be gold, has to represent all these different things. It's gotta be a pop hit, but also expansive and kind of trippy - it's got to function on all these different levels, and that's impossible. You can never make the perfect song, though we're always trying to."

For their efforts, AVM now find themselves on the Ontario label Noise Factory, former home to Broken Social Scene. While the EP that AVM are launching tonight (a split, or rather interwoven, release with solo artist Monochrome) is only distributed by Noise Factory, it does ease them into their new family. "I can't think of a better label for us to be with. After BSS left, they were left with a hole in their roster where they didn't have a more pop project, just this intensely downbeat ambient techno stuff. It was all sound artists, and they needed a pop band to fill the void. We're not stupid pop, so they liked it, and they liked the fact that it's electronic."

That, and the aforementioned love for the paying customer. "It's like fishing. We're casting a lure and hoping somebody bites. And that's not to say the audience is equated to sea life or anything! They're a lot smarter than fish."

With Beef Terminal, naw and DJ Cyan at Casa del Popolo tonight, Thursday, March 25, 9pm, $7

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