Introducing HOAN as they unleash their post-punk yet poppy 'Modern Phase' EP

Canada is doing some crazy things in punk music that most Americans don't know about. Bands like Greys, Soupcans, METZ and Dilly Dally are constantly testing the boundaries of how punk should sound, forcing the genre to form into a sonically different beast. Montreal's HOAN seems to be the next big punk thing in Canada, confidently crafting textured post-punk posts full of dreary vocals, but still managing to package it together in the form of pop music. It's odd, but it's what HOAN definitely seems to work best with.

It's apparent HOAN has a knack for what they do with their newest EP, Modern Phase. The 7-track project is scattered, yet focused. It's layered with sounds, from frontman Alexander Nicol's sometimes dull, mostly echo-y vocals to its explosions of guitar and keys from Oussama Laghzaoui and Michael Heinerman. Alexander Soussamian-Thibault seems to round the band all together with drums that level the HOAN's post-punk tendencies.

Vocalist Alexander Nicol comment on Modern Phase:

On one hand there is all this growth in technology and knowledge. On the other hand, we have the desecration of the environment, rampant issues with workplace safety and general health of people (prescription drugs, internet addiction, etc.), the commodification of everything, the increasing move away from civil rights, and the rise of radicalism. We're interested in exploring the chaos and instability that arises out of this framework.

Check out HOAN's Modern Phase EP up above, thanks to Fantôme Records. Watch their music video for "Inside Touch," one of the tracks off the Modern Phase EP, down below.