Writers on Track spotlights Montreal-based duo Bibi Club, with Secret City Publishing, whose latest album Amaro earned a place on the 2026 Polaris Music Prize short list. The pair crafts a distinctive sound that blends avant-pop and electronic music with elements of dark wave and neofolk. Their name, “Bibi Club,” is inspired by the discotheque in their living room—a space where their “bibis,” or loved ones, gather to dance.
What’s your favourite part of the songwriting process?
Discovering the song as it appears to us. The moment where you tap into something bigger than yourself, meaningful and transcendent. Trusting your instinct and that of your partner to assemble a musical puzzle that might resonate with you and others.
It’s a labour of love, trust and pure creativity. It’s connecting on a spiritual level with music and words. Sometimes it feels like discovering ancient ruins that always existed and that you need sculpted into your own creation. Finding a way to look at it that you never knew existed.
What’s your biggest session highlight so far?
Every day in the studio is special and unique. For us, it’s a safe space where we’re allowed to try anything we want, ask questions, express feelings, discover new things, again, an environment where our instinct is our compass. The safer you feel to express yourself the more creativity reveals itself to you. We try to come to our studio session with no apprehension and a spirit of discovery. If we find something that day, it’s a highlight, if we find nothing, we’re on the path to the next highlight.
If we try to point at one magical studio moment on our last record, we recorded at studio Verville in Montreal. They had a harpsichord, out of tune, tuned way too low. We were inspired for the album by Les Tapisseries de l’Apocalypse in Angers, a medieval tapestry, and as soon as Adèle started playing the harpsichord a portal to another time opened to us. We found the doors to what our album was about, what it should look like and what would make it unique.
How much do current market and track trends impact your creative process
They don’t and never did. It’s something to stay away from if you want to connect with your creativity, if you want to find your own voice, your own path.
We don’t make music for a market, we make music to connect with people, to inspire other people, to open a conversation with something that we can connect to with our musical language. Of course, we tour, release albums, we’re aware of the music industry, we understand how it works but markets and trends are associated with capitalism, with anxiety, not with art, not with connection, not with life.
The artists that inspire us are unapologetic, unique, have their own voice, their own path, they transcend the ambient noise.
Listen to Bibi Club on Amazon Music, Apple Music, and Spotify. Visit their website at bibiclub.ca.
