Bye Parula

Formed just as the world was being plunged into the darkness of the pandemic, Bye Parula would emerge from the COVID quietude with an authentically folky yet sneakily funky sound that has carried the Montreal traditions of indie-rock experimentation and community collaboration into the 2020s. On their 2023 debut, I, singer/bassist Loïc Calatayud-Sola, guitarist Sebastián Riquelme, and drummer Sergio D'Isanto cultivated an ornate art-pop aesthetic that followed in the feisty footsteps of Montreal eccentrics like Patrick Watson (whose percussionist Robbie Kuster produced the record) and Plants and Animals (whose Warren Spicer engineered it). But after the album’s slinky, symphonic single “Still Got the Spirit” found a national audience when it became the theme song for CBC Radio One’s flagship arts-and-culture show Q With Tom Power, the trio continued to innovate and expand their sound, and harness the onstage dynamism they’ve cultivated through appearances at major events such as the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, Pop Montreal, M for Montreal, Suoni per il popolo, Festival du Canal Lachine, Moncton’s MOSAÏQ, and Germany’s Reeperbahn Festival, as well as a fall 2024 tour of Europe. With their 2026 sophomore release, Something Out of Nothing, Bye Parula present a mercurial mix that draws from the orchestral funk of Serge Gainsbourg, the wounded melodies of Elliott Smith, the worldly rhythms of Talking Heads, and the homespun R&B of Dijon, all infused with a ‘70s cinematic sensibility that blurs the line between sun-dappled, soft-focus fantasia and urbane sophistication.