Los Angeles-based duo TANGIENTS — multi-instrumentalists Chelsea Ray and Be Hussey — specialize in a unique take on shoegaze that draws from 80s post-punk, 90s shoegaze and dream pop anchored around Chelsea Ray’s dream-like delivery […]
Category: dream pop
New Video: Widowspeak Share Lush and Mesmerizing “No Driver”
New York-based indie outfit Widowspeak — Molly Hamilton and Robert Earl Thomas — are one of many bands to crop up in the busy local scene around the time I started this site, almost 16 years ago. They started out shuffling their gear between now, long-shuttered — and deeply beloved — venues like Glasslands, Cake Shop, 285 Kent, Death By Audio and a lengthy list of others, and their practice space at Monster Island Basement, which now is a Trader Joe’s. New York has fucking changed, y’all. Speaking of changes: the duo is now a married couple, working day jobs in their own off-season. Thomas is a carpenter, Hamilton a waitress.
Recently, the duo announced that their highly-anticipated seventh album, Roses will be released June 5, 2026 through Captured Tracks. Deeply informed by their respective day jobs, Roses isn’t populated with dramatic overtures, but with the backdrop of the minutiae and repetition of daily acts. There’s the small observations before, during and after work: the ritual-like act of pouring water or coffee for customers, the bemusement and frustration of catching a cold on your only day off. Maybe you’re daydreaming about your life if you won the lottery — or maybe realizing that you already won.
The 10-song Roses was recorded last January at the Old Carpet Factory on the Greek Island of Hydra, a studio located in an old house, tucked into the village’s steep hills. During the winter, without the rush of tourists, it’s quiet. Longtime touring members Willy Muse, John Andrews and Noah Bond were the session backing band.
The album’s material was then taken home and slowly, lightly tinkered with before being mixed by Alex Farrar at Drop of Sun Studios and mastered by Greg Obis at Chicago Mastering.
Throughout the album, intimate spaces and stages of love are captured with a nostalgic, almost sepia-toned, vaseline coated lens. As always, the beating heart of their work is the interplay between Hamilton’s languid, dreamy and textured delivery and Hamilton’s bluesy, visceral guitar work.
Roses‘ will include the previously released “If You Change,” and the album’s second and latest single “No Driver.” “No Driver” is a lush, cinematic tune anchored around earnest, seemingly lived-in lyrics and the seemingly effortless craftsmanship that the band has long been known for. Of course, as always the stars of the show are Hamilton’s gorgeous, dreamily mesmerizing vocal and Thomas’ soulful, Crazy Horse-era Neil Young-like guitar work.
The song “is about knowing and loving people, who seem to thrive being on autopilot, at least for a while. It’s written from the perspective of trying to be supportive, and knowing it can be kind of magic when you’re in it, but also just waiting patiently for whenever they’re ready to move on from destructive behavior,” says Widowspeak’s Molly Hamilton. “I also kind of wrote it to my younger self. I’m 1000% on the other side of my wilder years (quit drinking almost seven years ago and now have a baby) but I definitely felt aimless for a long time. I care now, and caring about things and people and having a reason… is the whole point.”
“The video riffs on ‘Jesus take the wheel’; that’s it, that’s the concept,” Hamilton says of the accompanying video. “We have our friend Gary Canino from Dark Tea playing a Driver who’s kind of feeling the weight of the world, and Jesus (Johnathan Chriest) takes over as he goes about his night, dropping off the Mysterious Business Lady (Moira Spahić) and then picking up a couple other passengers. Kind of a ragtag group of people, Jesus driving them home.”
New Video: Hush Shares Lysergic “Funhouse”
Montréal-based trio Hush — Paige Barlow (vocals) and multi-instrumentalists Miles Dupire-Gagnon and Gabriel Lambert — are part of a new wave of Montréal-based acts actively reshaping psych pop. Each member of the band is an accomplished member of the local scene with the band featuring members of Hippie Hourrah, Elephant Stone, Anemone, and The Besnard Lakes.
Citing an eclectic array of influences that includes Broadcast, The Velvet Underground, Melody’s Echo Chamber, Steve Lacy, Cocteau Twins and Ariel Pink, the Montréal-based psych pop trio create a sound that’s simultaneously nostalgic and forward-looking. Their music lives in the blurred light of perception — half memory, half hallucination — and is an invitation to lose yourself inside of their hall of mirrors-like dream world.
The Montréal-based trio’s highly-anticipated full-length debut, Phasing is slated for a May 22, 2026 release through Simone Records. The album will include the previously released “The Mirrors Were Right,” the album’s opening and title track, “Phasing” and the final pre-release single, “Funhouse.”
“Funhouse” is a lush, shape-shifting tune with elements of dream pop, house music, trip-house and komische musik that’s mesmerizing, cinematic — and perfect for a deeply contemplative, neon-tinged, late night drive. The result is a song that features , hook-driven grooves with lysergic textures that seem to dissolve in front of your eyes and reassemble elsewhere while Paige Barlow’s ethereal vocal seems to coquettishly dance around and within the song’s groove.
Recorded largely live with various elements re-amplified through a Leslie speaker to create a swirling, three-dimensional feel, “Funhouse” sees the trio balancing mathematical precision with a spaced-out, almost blissy vibe.
Lyrically, the song probes the faith placed in systems meant to explain the world — romance, religion, identity — long after their answers begin to thin. As Barlow puts it, it’s a “theatrically messy interpretation of romance – a sequel of love learned.”
“It’s about the confidence people place in systems that promise meaning,” she adds. “They can start to feel like answers from a Magic 8-Ball—you shake it, wait for clarity, and sometimes the answer is just: try again later.”
Directed and filmed by the band’s Barlow, the accompanying video features looped lyrics projected onto footage of irises, further emphasizing the song’s and the album’s overall themes of perception and distortion.
New Video: Cincinnati’s Sungaze Shares soaring “I’m No Longer Afraid of Heights”
Through the release of their first three albums, 2019’s Light in All of It, 2021’s This Dream and 2024’s self-titled effort, Cincinnati-based indie sextet Sungaze — Ivory Snow (vocals), Ian Hilvert (lead guitar, vocals), Snow’s sister Angela Colvin (bass), Charlie Hausfield (rhythm guitar) and Zach Starkie (rhythm guitar) and Tyler Collier (drums) — have established a sound that draws from the atmospherics of shoegaze and the nostalgic pull of Midwest emo, blending lush, textured guitars with clear vocals and poetic lyricism.
Slated for a May 22, 2026 release through Candlepin Records and Softseed Music, the Cincinnati-based sextet’s fourth album I’m No Longer Afraid of Heights reportedly marks a turning point for the band. Thematically, the material is an excavation of personal history reframed through the present, where survival, ambition and grief coexist. Most of the album sits in — and captures — the tension between past and present, capturing the feeling of trying to move forward while carrying the weight of where you’ve been and how you’ve gotten there. Simultaneously looking within and without, the album traces the cost of staying, the fear of leaving, and the moments in our lives that force change.
I’m No Longer Afraid of Heights‘ latest single, album title track “I’m No Longer Afraid of Heights” opens with a gorgeous intro meant to evoke childhood memories of hot, hazy summers playing with your friends and/or siblings; and of times that seem deceptively simple and carefree, before morphing to a stormy and brooding section that evokes the bitterness of an unfulfilled stagnant life of drudgery and frustration punctuated by grief and heartache. Throughout, Ivory Snow’s ethereal vocal expresses a mix of heartache and resignation, followed by newfound sense of defiance and inspired action, seemingly informed by the recognition that it’s better to have tried and fallen on your face than to never attempt to live your dream.
The accompanying video draws from a real memory while simultaneously being intentionally symbolic. Set in a small Ohio town along the banks of the Little Miami River, the video contrasts warm childhood imagery with the bleakness and starkness of grown-up routine and loss, employing water, movement and live performance as parallel paths towards release. The video’s dual ending cuts between Snow in work attire, floating serenely in a childhood river bathing spot and Snow in a white lace dress, crowd surfing at a Sungaze show.
“It was important to us to film the video in the real life settings that inspired it. We filmed over the course of three days. Day one was mostly spent working with our kid actors, and filming the office-attire scenes,” Sungaze’s Ivory Snow explains. “Day two was filming the outdoor performance and narrator scenes which involved sneaking into a gravel pit yard and walking the streets of the small town where I grew up. The corner store in the video is the very same that is mentioned in the first verse. The third day was the live show, which was shot at Madison Live in Covington, KY, across the river from Cincinnati. To get the slow motion effect, we had to perform the song at 2x speed, which made for a humorous experience. I think we were all thankful that we play relatively slow music.”
To prepare the live concert audience for their scene on the third day of filming, a last minute showing of the video was arranged. Snow continues, “Before filming kicked off, we set up a projector and screened a preview of the video for the audience, ending with the river scene right before the first live show shot. The room was dead silent for a few seconds after the preview ended, before erupting into applause. A few people were wiping their eyes.
Screening the video in that way felt a bit more vulnerable than expected and it was gratifying to see it received so well.”
Throwback: Happy 68th Birthday, David Roback!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 68th anniversary of the birth of Mazzy Star’s David Roback.
New Audio: Club 8 Returns With Slow-Burning “There Is A Light That Seems To Go Out”
Since the release of 2024’s A Year With Club 8, Stockholm-based JOVM mainstays Club 8 — Karolina Komstedt (vocals) and electronic music producer, artist and Labrador Records founder and label boss Johan Angergård — the duo spent last year releasing a single a month over the course of last year, including tunes like “ooo,” “None Of This Will Matter When You’re Dead,” “Staying Alive,” “Born The Wrong Time,” “Sneaky Feelings” and “Daydreams.”
Earlier this year, the duo released “Echoes Of Our Time,” a nostalgia-inducing bop that channeled classic New Order and 80s pop. And late last month, the duo released their latest single “There Is A Light That Seems To Go Out,” a slow-burning and shimmering ballad that nods a bit at The Smiths, anchored around a familiar heartache over broken promises and things left unfulfilled and unresolved.
New Audio: Boston’s Jonah Hiro Shares Dreamy, Lo-Fi “i gaze at mars”
Jonah Hiro is a Boston-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, who specializes in a brand of bedroom psych pop informed by his obsession with blown out sounds, trippy and hypnotic soundscapes, paired with dreamy vocals.
Hiro released his debut EP, lost at sea earlier this year. The EP’s opening track “i gaze at mars” is a mind-bending and mesmerizing tune, featuring buzzing bass synths, blown out, skittering beats, twinkling keys as a lush, chilled-out bed for the Boston-based artist’s dreamy delivery. The result is a song that kind of reminds me of a lo-fi take on JOVM mainstays Tame Impala, GUM and POND while showcasing Hiro’s ability to craft a remarkably catchy hook.
New Video: Hush Returns with Shimmering and Woozy “Phasing”
Montréal-based trio Hush — Paige Barlow (vocals) and multi-instrumentalists Miles Dupire-Gagnon and Gabriel Lambert — are part of a new wave of Montréal-based acts actively reshaping psych pop. And each member is an accomplished member of the local scene, with the band featuring members of Hippie Houraah, Elephant Stone, Anemone, and The Besnard Lakes.
Citing an eclectic array of influences that includes Broadcast, The Velvet Underground, Melody’s Echo Chamber, Steve Lacy, Cocteau Twins and Ariel Pink, the Montréal-based psych pop trio create a sound that’s simultaneously nostalgic and forward-looking. Their music lives in the blurred light of perception — half memory, half hallucination — and is an invitation to lose yourself inside of their hall of mirrors-like dream world.
Late last year, I wrote about the Canadian trio’s debut single, the Bibi Club-like “The Mirrors Were Right,” which also serves as the first single from their full-length debut, slated for a 2026 release through Simone Records. Their debut album’s second and latest single, album opener “Phasing” is a shimmering and ethereal blend of 60s psych pop, trip-hop and dream pop with Barlow’s radiant delivery darting and dancing around the dreamy accompanying arrangement and production.
The song thematically explores the uneasy ebb, shift and flow of feeling and perception, at points questioning the reciprocity and durability of our relationships with a seemingly lived-in quality.
Conceived by the band’s Paige Barlow and Aabid Youssef further emphasizes the song’s woozy and mind-bending blur: We see blurry images of local scenes projected both behind and in front of the band. The band also blurs in and out throughout.
New Video: she’s green Shares Stormy and Anthemic “mettle”
Minneapolis-based outfit she’s green — Zofia Smith (vocals), Liam Armstrong (guitar), Raimes Lucas (guitar), Teddy Nordvold (guitar) and Kevin Seeback (drums) — specialize in crafting dreamy soundscapes that transport the listener to scenes of soft summer rain and fields of swaying wheat, infused with raw emotional intensity.
With their earliest singles “river” and “smile again,” the Minneapolis-based quintet quickly became a staple within the Midwestern alternative scene, while earning praise from Complex, Star Tribune and The Current. Their debut EP, 2023’s Wisteria saw the band establishing an honest and exploratory songwriting process and a reputation for being a force in the world of sonic surrealism. Adding to a growing profile, the rising Minnesotans have supported their material with tours throughout the Midwest and East Coast with the likes of Hotline TNT, Friko, JOVM mainstays Glixen and a list of others.
Last year, the Minneapolis-based quartet signed to New York-based Photo Finish Records, who released their Henry Stoehr-produced sophomore EP Chrysalis. The EP included the Souvlaki-era Slowdive-like “Graze,” and the Sundays-meets-A Storm In Heaven-like “Willow.”
Building upon a growing national profile, the band shares their latest single “mettle.” Continuing a remarkable run of 120 Minutes-era MTV-like shoegaze and dream pop, “mettle” features Zofia Smith’s powerhouse yet tender vocal ethereally floating over a stormy soundscape of hazy reverb-drenched guitars, sculpted and abrasive riffs and thunderous, driving drums. The song manages to be simultaneously oceanic yet intimate, rooted in personal experiences that are all too familiar and universal.
“‘mettle’ channels the frustration and discomfort that stem from what often feels like constant bad news, while also being an anthem of resilience and the courage to take action and bring about positive change,” the band’s Zofia Smith explains.
Directed by Jaxon Whittington, the accompanying 120 Minutes-era MTV-like video begins with the band’s Smith walking through an eerie forest scene similar to horror movies and is split between horror movie-like vibes and the band playing in the same forest.
The band will have a very busy 2026: Earlier this month, they announced that they’d be opening for Chapterhouse on select dates on that band’s first North American tour in 16 years. During the spring they’ll also open for Bad Suns and Slow Crush with some headlining sets and appearances at Nothing.’s touring Slide Away Festival. The festival will have a stop at the Brooklyn Paramount.
New Video: Bibi Club Returns with incendiary “George Sand”
Deriving their name from their living room discotheque, where their “bibis” — or loved ones — come to dance, the Montréal-based duo Bibi Club — Adèle Trottier-Rivard (vocals, keys) and Nicolas Basque (guitar) — earned acclaim across both Québec and Europe with their debut album, 2022’s Le soleil et la mer, an album that won a Most Promising Award at that year’s GAMIQ Awards, a Discovery of the Year at that year’s ADISQ Awards and landed on the Polaris Music Prize long list.
Le soleil et la mer received praise by a number of French outfits including Les Inrocks, Magic Magazine, Libération and France Inter and landed on Le Devoir, Les Inrocks‘ and Tsugi’s Best Albums of 2022 lists. And adding to a rapidly growing international profile, the album received airplay from BBC 6 Music’s Steve Lamacq.
Their sophomore album, 2024’s Feu de garde saw the band expanding upon their sound with darker textures and luminous synths. The album earned several nominations at that year’s ADISQ Awards and landed on the Polaris Music Prize short ling. The album was FNAC‘s album of the month for May and received praise from MOJO, Télérama, Record Collector, Uncut and many more.
Building upon a growing profile, the Montréal-based duo have begun making a run of the international festival circuit with sets at SXSW, The Great Escape, FOCUS Wales, MaMA Festival, Osheaga, The New Colossus Festival, as well as clubs in Brazil, Germany and Canada. They’ve also opened for Blonde Redhead, Circuit des Yuex and a list of others.
Bibi Club’s highly-anticipated third album Amaro is slated for a Friday release through Secret City Records. The album sees the acclaimed French Canadian duo inviting the listener to brave the dark beasts that shadow us beneath the surface, and to devote ourselves to the healing power of a fierce will to live. It explores the liminal spectrum between the here and beyond, pointing to love, nature and community as the deeply unifying purpose. The album’s material reportedly draw a detailed map of a world completely of its own, following the trajectory traced by the pair in recent years.
Now, out of the living room, we dance in a mental space overloaded with grief and fear in their most rawest forms. Following the death of two dear, loved ones in the last year, the mantra “I want to love, I want to live,” resonates intensely in each song’s melody, underlined by the belief that if the heart is a place that never dies, we must reach it as quickly as possible.
Inspired by their tours with Blonde Redhead and Circuit des Yeux and a collaboration with Calvin Johnson, the duo’s sound now incorporates elements of avant pop, electronic body music, dark wave and neo-folk while simultaneously borrowing from baroque sounds with harpsichord, trumpet and ritual chants. The album also features contributions from saxophonist Dimitri Milbrun and singer/songwriter Helena Deland, who help contribute to its overall sound.
Amaro will include “Washing Machine,” which I wrote about last month, and the album’s latest and last pre-release single “George Sand.” Much like its immediate predecessor, “George Sand” is a breakneck, motorik-like chug featuring Dimitri Milbrun’s incendiary saxophone playing paired with Trottier-Rivard’s dreamy cooing. One-part dream pop, one-part no wave, one-part post punk and one-part art school punk, “George Sand” The band explains that the song was inspired by the radical 19th century feminist writer’s forest manifesto — an ode to life and nature.
“The writer George Sand was not only a strong, feminist and radical person, she was also a renowned botanist. This song is inspired by her manifesto for the survival of the Fontainebleau forest, an ode to life and nature, to the plants and trees that guide us,” the Montréal-based duo explain. “A song full of thirst for life, about the force of nature and the therapeutic benefits it provides. Nico quickly programmed the bass and the 606 drum machine, then everything fell into place, like the song. It was evident that the song needed our friend, radical artist Dimitri Milbrun to add some incendiary saxophone. At the end of the song, the guitar and saxophone blend together to form a force that destroys everything in its path.”
Directed and edited by Anna Arrobas, the accompanying video features the acclaimed duo performing the song in front of fire-based projections and brooding lighting by Flavie Lemée.
New Video: Chicago’s Snowcuffs Shares Hazy and Anthemic “Burst”
Formed back in 2022, Chicago-based dream pop outfit Snowcuffs features members of Lightfoils and Astrobrite, Their debut EP, last year’s Sink Down saw the band quickly establishing a sound that balanced shimmering textures and memorable hooks. Inspired by Alvvays, Beach House and Mazzy Star, their work frequently drifts between nostalgic haze and fuzz-driven intensity while thematically touching upon longing, reflection and fleeting beauty.
The band has shared stages with Cold Gawd, Seashine and Cigarettes for Breakfast, and played a standout set at Kalamashoegazer, the country’s longest-running shoegaze festival.
Building upon a growing profile in the national shoegaze and dream pop scenes, the Chicago-based outfit’s sophomore EP Sweet Gravity is slated for a March 5, 2026 release. Engineered by Sanford Parker at Hypercube Studios, mixed by Robert Cheek and mastered by Baseline Audio Labs’ Chris Goosman, Sweet Gravity EP reportedly sees the band showcasing refined songwriting and a much more expansive sound that pushes the boundaries of dream pop without losing its heart and soul.
Sweet Gravity EP‘s latest single “Burst” sees the band pairing shimmering and swirling guitar textures, a forcefully driving rhythm section and remarkably catchy, rousingly anthemic hooks with ethereal vocals. Sonically, “Burst” seemingly nods at 120 Minutes-era MTV shoegaze and alternative rock — but with a decidedly modern sensibility. And at its core is a song and a narrator struggling with crippling ambivalence and self-doubt.
The band explains that “‘Burst’ is about the struggle of trying to be everything at once, and what happens when inaction, ambivalence, and self-doubt slowly erode your options in life.
I wait and see
Stare at the tree
Will it die of thirst
And fall down on me?
Ambivalence isn’t neutral, it’s destructive.”
Directed by Dave Rentaukas, the accompanying video for “Burst” is split between footage of the band’s lead singer in a Chicago area park as the sun begins to set and the rest of the band performing in a studio in front brooding yet trippy projections.
New Video: Wings of Desire Share Propulsive “Nothing Left To Give”
Stroud, UK-based duo Wings of Desire — Chloe Little and James Taylor — released their full-length debut, 2023’s Life Is Infinite to critical praise from The Independent, Dork, Clash, The Line of Best Fit, Stereogum, Paste, BrooklynVegan, Under The Radar and a lengthy list of others. The band has received airplay from BBC 6 Music‘s Steve Lamacq and Lauren Laverne, NME Radio and Radio X’s John Kennedy.
Building upon a growing profile in the UK and elsewhere, the duo toured with Editors, Nation of Language and Bleach Lab as an opener, as well as opening for The Cribs at London’s The Roundhouse.
2024’s Shut Up & Listen raised funds for Stroud-based community project The Long Table, a Pay-What-You-Can restaurant, which was at risk of eviction from its home. They followed up with 2025’s standalone “a few more years.”
The duo’s highly-anticipated sophomore album, Stand Still Like The Hummingbird is slated for a December 9, 2026 release. The album will feature their ongoing song cycle in which they release a new track and accompanying video on every new moon of this year’s lunar cycle. Sonically, Stand Still Like The Hummingbird is a continuation of the sound they established on their debut, a mix of gritty dream pop and krautrock.
Thematically, the album’s material touches on the natural rituals of daily life and continually moving through creation and destruction. Throughout the album, there’s references to life and birth, as well as folklore and wonder in the accompanying visuals.
Their latest single “Nothing Left To Give” is built around an insistent motorik pulse, gently buzzing synths and guitars paired with the duo’s lockstep harmonies. While showcasing the duo’s willingness to build upon a well-established sound, the song thematically tackles burnout in the face of modern pressures.
“Modernity has long demanded a channeling of human energies and emotions into patterns that are moulded by economic and disciplinary requirements,” the British duo say. “Some days we feel like we have nothing left to give but somehow we keep on pushing.”
Directed by Amber Little features the duo driving around the English countryside on a road trip. And its core, this trip is to meant to be an escape from modern life.
New Video: Allegories Shares Bleak and Yearning “The Next Life”
Since the release of 2022’s Endless, the Canadian experimental pop duo and JOVM mainstays Allegories — childhood friends Adam Bentley and Jordan Mitchell — have released a growing collection of standalone singles.
Over the course of last year, the duo shared DREAMCRUSHER” “Stay Out Of The Basement,” “Baker’s Lung,” and “Mid Century Nothing,” the first four of a series of singles that originally started out as bare-bones ukulele sketches, which gradually transformed into idiosyncratic electronic music sound sculptures.
The Canadian JOVM mainstays begin 2026 with “The Next Life,” a shoegazer textured tune that may arguably be the most unflinchingly bleak, song that the duo have ever written or recorded. Inching towards being an anthem but stubbornly refusing cathartic release, the song sees the duo staring into existential despair, exploring nihilism and deferred hope, while asking “What if there’s nothing besides this? What then?”
“There’s no way around it,” Allegories’ Adam Bentley explains. “This is the most pessimistic reflection on life and existence I’ve ever put forward.”
Like its four immediate predecessors, “The Next Life” was originally written on ukulele and underwent multiple transformations before the final version. Beginning as a skeletal folk sketch was first recontextualized through electronic instrumentation, then reshaped again using the organic, analog tools and instruments typically associated with a rock band. “Just as it feels ready to lift its skinny fists to the heavens and brush against hope, I instead dig deeper into a nihilistic, defeated worldview,” Bentley says. In the next life, we’re told, our prayers will be answered. Our dreams are achieved. The world is at last in harmony.”
The accompanying video features the duo performing the song in the studio, filmed on warped, fucked up VHS tape. For those of you who remember, y’all know.
New Audio: Club 8 Shares Lush and Dreamy “Echoes Of Our Time”
Since the release of 2024’s A Year With Club 8, Stockholm-based JOVM mainstays Club 8 — Karolina Komstedt (vocals) and electronic music producer, artist and Labrador Records founder and label boss Johan Angergård — the duo spent last year releasing a single a month over the course of last year, including tunes like “ooo,” “None Of This Will Matter When You’re Dead,” “Staying Alive,” “Born The Wrong Time,” “Sneaky Feelings” and “Daydreams.”
The duo begin 2026 with “Echoes Of Our Time,” a nostalgia-inducing bop that channels classic New Order and shimmering, 80s pop while showcasing the duo’s unerring knack for catchy hooks and rousingly anthemic choruses. The song touches upon some familiar and deeply universal themes — the heartache, despair and longing for a loved one, who you’re no longer involved with, the dreaminess of northern hemisphere winter and the longing to spend a wintry day in bed not doing much.
New Video: Bibi Club Shares Dreamy “Washing Machine”
Deriving their name from their living room discotheque, where their “bibis” — or loved ones — come to dance, the Montréal-based duo Bibi Club — Adèle Trottier-Rivard (vocals, keys) and Nicolas Basque (guitar) — earned acclaim across both Québec and Europe with their debut album, 2022’s Le soleil et la mer, an album that won a Most Promising Award at that year’s GAMIQ Awards, a Discovery of the Year at that year’s ADISQ Awards and landed on the Polaris Music Prize long list.
Le soleil et la mer received praise by a number of French outfits including Les Inrocks, Magic Magazine, Libération and France Inter and landed on Le Devoir, Les Inrocks‘ and Tsugi’s Best Albums of 2022 lists. And adding to a rapidly growing international profile, the album received airplay from BBC 6 Music’s Steve Lamacq.
Their sophomore album, 2024’s Feu de garde saw the band expanding upon their sound with darker textures and luminous synths. The album earned several nominations at that year’s ADISQ Awards and landed on the Polaris Music Prize short ling. The album was FNAC‘s album of the month for May and received praise from MOJO, Télérama, Record Collector, Uncut and many more.
Building upon a growing profile, the Montréal-based duo have begun making a run of the international festival circuit with sets at SXSW, The Great Escape, FOCUS Wales, MaMA Festival, Osheaga, The New Colossus Festival, as well as clubs in Brazil, Germany and Canada. They’ve also opened for Blonde Redhead, Circuit des Yuex and a list of others.
Bibi Club’s highly-anticipated third album Amaro is slated for a February 27, 2026 release through Secret City Records. The album sees the acclaimed French Canadian duo inviting the listener to brave the dark beasts that shadow us beneath the surface, and to devote ourselves to the healing power of a fierce will to live. It explores the liminal spectrum between the here and beyond, pointing to love, nature and community as the deeply unifying purpose. The album’s material reportedly draw a detailed map of a world completely of its own, following the trajectory traced by the pair in recent years.
Now, out of the living room, we dance in a mental space overloaded with grief and fear in their most rawest forms. Following the death of two dear, loved ones in the last year, the mantra “I want to love, I want to live,” resonates intensely in each song’s melody, underlined by the belief that if the heart is a place that never dies, we must reach it as quickly as possible.
Inspired by their tours with Blonde Redhead and Circuit des Yeux and a collaboration with Calvin Johnson, the duo’s sound now incorporates elements of avant pop, electronic body music, dark wave and neo-folk while simultaneously borrowing from baroque sounds with harpsichord, trumpet and ritual chants. The album also features contributions from saxophonist Dimitri Milbrun and singer/songwriter Helena Deland, who help contribute to its overall sound.
“Washing Machine,” Amaro‘s second and latest single, as well as the album’s first English language single is a breakneck churn of a song that’s one-part shoegaze, one-part dream pop, one-part post punk that evokes a complicated yet lived-in mix of joy and sorrow that often coexists throughout our lives — if we pay attention.
The duo say of the album’s new single: “The anomaly. This song is a homage to Tobie, who loved washing machines, the way they rush in and spin in every direction. It’s also a reflection on our experience as parents and the visceral bonds that connect us to our children. The song is full of light and life despite its underlying grief, the guitars dance together, the keyboard pulses with life, it’s energetic, even danceable. It evokes the short passage on Earth of a child who left a vivid, powerful mark on everyone who loved him.”
Directed by Anna Arrobas and featuring sculptures by Anna Arrobas and Marin McMillan, the accompanying video for “Washing Machine” features various sculpted pieces meant to look like ancient symbols. “For ‘Washing Machine,’ I wanted to explore symbols of life, death and reincarnation,” Arrobas explains. “Marin and I sculpted them to look like ancient relics and I filmed them in flickering light in front of a black backdrop to make them look suspended and floating.”