Irene Tremblay (Aroah)
Aroah is the stage name of the indie-folk singer Irene Tremblay. She was born in Spain to an American mother and a Spanish father. I know almost nothing else about her. Between 2001 and 2007, she released three EPs and three full-length albums. Today’s song comes from the debut album, entitled No Podemos Ser Amigos.
Tremblay sings some of her songs in Spanish, but most in English. At least the ones that I know about. While one of her albums is entirely in Spanish, the rest of her catalog is heavy on the English language. The title of the debut album translates to We Can’t Be Friends, and that’s also the title of one of the songs. In English. She says that she considered using the English album title, but ultimately went with No Podemos Ser Amigos.
I read an interview with her where she said that because she writes songs about damaged relationships, she was misunderstood as an innocent party who was treated badly by men. She explained that, in fact, it was just the opposite. She was the one doing the hurting. She was the one who wasn’t able to commit to the relationships. She said that she liked getting to know people “really well”, but didn’t like to keep one guy around for very long.
This isn’t necessarily one of those songs about damaged relationships.
“Her IQ #1 ” by Aroah
The song reminds me a bit of some of my favorite Canadian chanteuses. I guess, though, I should say that they remind me of this, since this song predated the examples that I’ll state. This song and “Ruby II” by Amy Millan (have a very similar sound. Very similar. Tremblay’s singing style and that of Kat Burns, from the band Forest City Lovers are a bit similar. At least in parts of this song.
In this short ditty, I particularly like the line:
I am dark, like a starless night
But the moon will come if you say my name
You can grab a physical or digital copy of No Podemos Ser Amigos through the amazon store here
this is that song 
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