Loss has a way of sharpening focus, and for Bibi Club, the past year’s grief has crystallized into Amaro, their third album and most urgent work yet. The Montreal avant-pop duo — Adèle Trottier-Rivard and Nicolas Basque — will release the record on February 27th via Secret City Records, following the deaths of two loved ones and a creative period marked by what they describe as “a fury of living.” The first single, also titled “Amaro,” arrived this week with a music video, and the duo has mapped out a European tour for April, hitting Paris, London, Berlin, Brighton, and several UK cities.
“Amaro represents a place, a legendary character, a feeling that runs through the album,” Trottier-Rivard and Basque explain. “The thin line between death and life, mourning and light, a force that keeps us alive.” That tension animates the title track, which unfolds as both elegy and invitation, a call to dance, release, and reach for something larger than survival. The album itself explores what they call “the sensitive spectrum between here and there,” pointing toward love, nature, and community as anchors against the dark. It’s a significant shift from their previous work: where 2022’s Le soleil et la mer established them as one of Quebec’s most captivating acts, and 2024’s Polaris-shortlisted Feu de garde deepened their sound with darker textures, Amaro leans into electronic body music, dark wave, and neofolk, layered with harpsichords, trumpets, and ritual-like repetition.
The duo recorded with contributions from Helena Deland and saxophonist Dimitri Milbrun, drawing on inspiration from recent tours with Blonde Redhead and Circuit des Yeux, as well as a collaboration with Calvin Johnson. The 11-track album includes songs titled “The Styx,” “Ceremony,” and “The Angry Beast” — names that suggest mythic weight and emotional reckoning. Bibi Club, who named themselves after the makeshift discotheque in their living room where friends gather to dance, have always rooted their work in intimacy and collectivity. Amaro extends that impulse into heavier territory, transforming mourning into momentum. They’ll road-test the material across Europe this spring before returning to Montreal, where they’ve become essential voices in the city’s thriving avant-pop underground.
Photo – Anna Arrobas
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