Video Interview: DahL’s Nassir Liselle

Deriving their name from a sound technician’s offhand comment describing their music as “a beat being split in multiple directions” — and by the Trinidadian dhal that the band’s co-founder Nassir Liselle during his childhood, Montréal-based art rock trio DahL — co-founders Liselle and Bryan Greenfield, along with Edward Schrimer — formed back in 2014, after the dissolution of their previous project, the Calgary-based outfit Oliverthegreat.

Informed by a deep commitment to artistic reinvention, the band’s co-founders relocated from Calgary to Montréal trading their long-held punk ambition for a more layered and exploratory sound, drawing from post-punk, R&B and 90s trip-hop — in particular, Arctic Monkeys and Water From Your Eyes are cited as influences, but filtered through their own unique lens.

In 2022, Edward Schrigmer (percussion), who had a background in electronic composition and marching band technique joined the band. That same year, the then-newly constituted trio released two self-produced EPs, which marked an evolution of the band’s sound and approach. Since then, the trio have also become known across both the province and nationally for an unpredictable live show that’s dynamic, reactive and specifically tailored to reach space, audience and the sociopolitical/geopolitical moment.

At the heart of the band’s work has been storytelling — often nonlinear, yet always immersive. Their work frequently merges lived experience with speculative fantasy, giving voice to mythologies that correct, reframe and resist. The result is an experience that’s deeply personal, strangely transportive and full of tension, curiosity and moments that can catch the listener off-guard.

The Montréal trio’s full-length debut, last year’s That’s It was released to critical applause from CULT MTL and a feature in Exclaim!‘s “8 Emerging Acts You Need to Hear.” Adding to a growing profile both locally and nationally, the band made the run of the national festival circuit with sets at Fredricton (NB)‘s Shivering Songs Festival — and they played a sold-out closing night of Mothland’s Taverne Tour, opening for acclaimed and beloved, local art rock outfit Suuns.

Earlier this year, the trio began a run of the North American festival circuit with an appearance at this year’s New Colossus Festival. And recently, they played a second sold-out Montréal show with Chicago-based JOVM mainstays FACS.

The members of DahL are currently working on their sophomore album, which is slated for a 2027 release. The album will reportedly draw from the moody compositions of Mark Isham, who worked on the scores for Heat, Crash and Point Break.

But in the meantime, the Canadian trio’s recently released “High Tide” is a brooding and atmospheric tune, anchored around a motorik pulse and swirling, shoegazer-like textures that’s one-part Bristol-scene trip-hop, one-part krautrock — think of acts like FACS, Montréal’s Patche and others, and one-part swaggering post-punk.

It’s been a little over a year since I’ve done a video interview on this site. And honestly, it’s a feature that I hope to do a bit more often when I can. Fingers crossed. So in this edition of JOVM’s video interviews, I chatted with DahL’s Nassir Liselle in a freewheeling interview that touched upon a wide range of subjects, including the band’s early days in Calgary, Montréal’s very crowded and wildly talented scene, touring and its difficulties and unexpected joys, their new single “High Tide,” their forthcoming sophomore album and more.

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