Fever Ray Raise Temperature, Attract Arcade Fire at Pop Montreal

Fever Ray's Pop Montreal showcase comes in the middle of the Swedish singer's "last" tour. But wait, isn't also her first trip to North America?

Well, not willing to miss this possibly one and only chance, Arcade Fire's Win Butler, Melissa Auf Der Maur and Priestess frontman Mikey Heppner were among the Montreal rock royalty spotted at Metropolis last night for the haunting, trippy solo project of Swedish electronic artist Karin Dreijer Andersson.

As half of the Knife, alongside her brother Olof, their award-winning third album 'Silent Shout' was named 2006's best album by Pitchfork. As such, last night's Pop expectations ran high and Fever Ray didn't disappoint.

Wearing some sort of pagan-chic black robe and furry headdress ensemble and hidden in the shadows along with her band, Andersson spoke not a word but did deliver a powerful, hour-long performance that bled avant-garde Euro dance.

The largely French-Canadian audience seemed a tad bewildered by the dark and surreal Scandinavian electronic witchcraft vibe radiating from the shadowy stage, but got into it nonetheless, grooving to the bass-heavy experience. And mention must be made of the fantastic laser show, which -- in beautiful contrast to the antique lamps that seemed to float upon the black stage -- felt like a futuristic take on Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon' shows.

By the time the lights came up, the sweaty crowd had clearly caught a fever. Too bad they might not get a chance to contract it again.