Interviews: Talking 'In Irons' with Oranje

Last month Oranje followed up their 2023 debut EP Pure Sport with their excellent debut album In Irons. The Calgary-based math rock trio draws on their jazz background along with Midwest emo to create intricate, inventive arrangements that will have you noticing something new each time you listen. The album also finds the band leaning more into their collaborative side as they welcome talented local musicians into the fold, including vocalists Sophia Truscott, Drew Morrell, and Jerome “K-Riz” Henry. This collaborative approach also saw the band adding to their sonic palette with the addition of organ, cello, bassoon, violin, and alto sax. In Irons is available everywhere digitally now. Oranje will be playing the Soundoff Summit Showcase in Calgary on November 15.
Punknews editor Em Moore caught up with guitarist Joseph Bahhadi, bassist Michael Buie, and drummer Andrés Mira to talk about the album, collaborating with local musicians, bringing the audience into their live shows, and so much more. Read the interview below!

In Irons takes its name from a sailing term and water plays a big role in the lyrics. What inspired this nautical direction?

Sailing is very nostalgic to Michael [Buie, bass]. His dad used to take him and his siblings sailing during the summers and he also attended sailing summer camp at Calgary’s Glenmore Reservoir for several years.
Our album is centered around two main themes, the first of which is its namesake: “In Irons”, a sailing term that describes when a vessel is stalled, head-on into the wind. This theme emerged from our personal experiences over the past few years—we all felt a sense of stagnation, of failing to grow. For some of us, option paralysis made it difficult to commit to a life path; our internal ruminations talked us out of every choice we tried to make. For others, mounting frustration over unfulfilled goals and repeated rejections eroded our optimism about the future. The thematic heart of the album, “Styrofoam”, was developed by Sophia [Truscott, vocals] and explores the concept of feeling stuck through the analogy of a small Styrofoam boat, unable to leave the bathtub it finds itself in.
The second theme, water, was chosen as an aesthetic glue—an analogy flexible and cohesive enough to explore our ideas while tying in naturally with the sailing motif. Water is both life-sustaining and destructive. In the context of the climate crisis, it poses a threat through both scarcity and excess. This duality appealed to us; it gave us a dynamic metaphor to work with.

You recorded this album at Child Stone Studios with Chris Dadge, who you worked with on your debut EP. What was the recording process like? What does this place mean to you?

Chris Dadge is an incredibly talented musician/producer who is a Calgary legend and has worked with some of the biggest names in indie music (Alvvays, Chad VanGaalen, etc.). His home studio is so much fun to record at. The acoustic guitar that appears on the album was tracked in Chris’ basement bathroom which has luscious reverb. The result was an album that sounds unique and intimate.

You’ve said that this album was 2 years in the making. What did you learn about yourselves as musicians during this time?

We learned that we need to engage with multiple genres at all times to be happy, and that we love to collaborate with others.

How would you describe your songwriting process?

We are very collaborative. It's too hard and no fun writing music in isolation. Usually, one of us will bring a crumb of an idea (guitar verse, chorus, or melody) and we all fill in the gaps and experiment. We don’t like to limit ourselves within the confines of a genre. In “BWV” we sampled Bach piano music at the end with lots of reverb, so sometimes we just try weird stuff out.

What’s the main difference between writing instrumental songs and songs with lyrics?

The main difference, and challenge, for us is that vocal music requires more space. In general, I think we are more comfortable writing instrumental music, and it was a challenge to remember that the instrumental component of the song should complement the vocals and not overwhelm them.

You worked with a lot of local musicians for this album. How did these collaborations come about? What impact did they have on the dynamic of the band?

Musically, we wanted to give back and pay homage to the musicians we came up with here in Calgary. All of us are classically trained and have played extensively in jazz sessions, so we aimed to write music that reflects those influences. From very early on we knew we wanted to feature musicians from those idioms to add depth to the album; you’ll hear saxophone, cello, violin, organ, and bassoon woven throughout. We took influence from bands like Legss and Do Nothing, who incorporated dissonant strings or harpsichord as textural layers on their latest albums.

How would you describe the music scene in Calgary?

Alive and well. Calgary has a wealth of talent that is often overshadowed by Toronto, Montreal, or Vancouver. A hallmark of Calgary musicians is that they are involved in multiple “scenes,” and they are able to work across genres. James Watson and Andrew Park, both orchestral string musicians, are equally comfortable playing Bach as they are adding dissonant noise to a post-punk track.

“Ceilings” is one of my favourite songs on the record. What’s the story behind it?

Sophia used a snow globe as an extended metaphor for time, place, and restriction of your potential. The glass ceiling provides a challenge for determining what constraints are real versus perceived. The lyrics are an existential story; the narrator keeps reminding the other person that they’ll die, that they’re organic. They’re living in a fragile world on the cusp of breaking. “Knotting in my chest” is the breaking point. The narrator starts to feel crazy and alone in existential dread because everyone else seems bought into a different, happier perspective.
The lyrics on the album were recorded in one take in a closet and were actually originally part of the demo. Sophia’s performance was so good that we didn’t re-record it. This song was one of the first we wrote for the new album and was entirely instrumental. Sophia’s vocal performance really brought it together. It is also in ⅝ and has some weird rhythmic stuff, but no one cares.

You’ll be playing the Soundoff Summit Showcase at BLOX Art Centre on November 15. What are you most looking forward to about this show?

Hanging out with our band-crush Astrology Girl and meeting industry people to take In Irons platinum.

You build a lot of audience participation into your live show, especially with your Fall of Troy cover. How did the idea to bring the audience into it come about? Why did you decide to cover this song in particular?

With all of us having grown up with Guitar Hero 3, “F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X”, which is a bonus song in that game, was a classic in our books that we thought would be a fun and challenging cover given its rather technical parts. Furthermore, having multiple vocalists can be a logistical challenge when it comes to scheduling gigs, as it is hard to know which vocalists are able to attend which gigs.
This, combined with knowing that much of our audience are music nerds and people who are also musicians, we figured that at least one person would know the lyrics and have the ability/willingness to sing for us! And to our delight, it has worked wonderfully every single time. It is always so fun to have someone come up and sing with us, and it has been a great way to meet new people! During our 2025 Sled Island show, we had Spirit Hotel from Seattle join us and do an incredible job.

Which part of In Irons are you proudest of?

The diversity and range of music that it has. We think it captures how broad our musical interests and backgrounds are and expresses a wide variety of emotions and sounds. Related to this, it also features so many musicians that we look up to, and being able to have them on our record is a great source of joy for us.

What does the future hold for Oranje?

Cozy winter vibes, beef stew, ginger molasses cookies, and writing new songs.