There is a strong thread of death running through Quebec duo Bibi Club’s third album. Rather than a self-indulgent, goth teenage wallowing in mortality, it is a heartfelt response to the passing of two loved ones in the past year. It is a recurrent theme throughout ‘Amaro’, many of the eleven songs including variations on the words, “I want to live, I want to love.” While it reflects dark shadows, it does overflow with a will to live life to the full.
Bibi Club consist of Adèle Trottier-Rivard on vocals and keyboards, and Nicolas Basque on guitar. The band name is taken from the discotheque in their living room where their bibis, loved ones, come to dance. Their employment of a drum machine is one musical element that does sound vaguely gothic, its use bringing to mind the heavy propulsion of early 1980s Sisters of Mercy, although opening track, ‘Infinité’, has a distinct motorik rhythm. The songs are bi-lingual and on this track Trottier-Rivard’s French vocals have a moving lightness to them, while there is a baroque touch to the closing keys.
In contrast, the title track is darker, the drum machine heavier and snaking shards of guitar run through it. The lyrics are economical, the main theme translating as “death and life / the heart is a place that never dies,” an indication that despite the bleak themes, they avoid negativity and the pace of the beats creates a euphoric club vibe. ‘A different light’, the first of three English language songs, has guitar lines that recall early Cure and while its opening line is “we walk with death” and has a child asking “what have you done? / the sky is falling”, it has the revelation that “joy is stronger than the beast’s anger.”
‘Le château’ represents a change of pace and is one the album’s stand out tracks. Starting with slow guitar chords and the drum machine switched off, it adds harpsicords, trumpets and the occasional military peel of drums. Trottier-Rivard’s vocals do sound more lyrical in French, describing “horses laden with flowers” and musing that “love survives death.” The dynamic shifts with ‘Les vagues’, busy guitar and keys weaving between the drum machine, bursts of feedback furthering the drama. It all feels ominous, words coming in short bursts, “strong wind / fear and joy / the trees / fatality.” The song ends atmospherically yet melodically with synthesised bursts that mirror breathing. It flows into ‘Cérémonie’, a brief drum machine-free piece which serves as a pause for reflection.
Presumably named after the 19th Century cross-dressing, anti-conservatism author, ‘George Sand’ would be remarkable enough for its breathless guitar lines twisting and weaving intricate patterns but is made even more exhilarating by some freeform full velocity saxophone. The absolute piece-de-resistance though is ‘Washing Machine’, a homage to Tobie who loved the way washing machines spun in different directions. Appropriately, the guitars initially recall Sonic Youth who had a song and album of that title but then the giddy rush to the guitar lines and harsh batter of the drum machine mirror the machine’s shifting cycles while the keyboards provide light despite some utterly heartbreaking lines: “Where do we go after the death of our child? …I will be your mother to the very end.” The song stops abruptly, echoing the disorienting feel of life ending suddenly. ‘La bête en colère’ (‘The Angry Beast’) takes over, initially gently baroque but soon adding jarring doses of feedback and menacing keys.
Closing track, ‘The pine on the corner’ is reminiscent of later period Broadcast in its pulsing electronics and the Trish Keenan-like quality to the vocals, a mesmeric resignation to its repetition of “People fall / people go / we all keep staring at the wall.”
With ‘Amaro’, Bibi Club have used raw experience to create an album that channels grief into something very powerful. It acknowledges pain without losing grip on an elemental lifeforce. Musically, it takes from darkwave, freak folk, avant pop, electronic and baroque music to produce a tapestry of sounds that are emotional and have a slightly twisted beauty.
Bibi Club: Amaro: Released 27 February 2026 (Secret City Records)
Club – Washing Machine (Official Music Video)
I was editor of the long-running fanzine, Plane Truth, and have subsequently written for a number of publications. While the zine was known for championing the most angular independent sounds, performing in recent years with a community samba percussion band helped to broaden my tastes so that in 2021 I am far more likely to be celebrating an eclectic mix of sounds and enthusing about Made Kuti, Anthony Joseph, Little Simz and the Soul Jazz Cuban compilations as well as Pom Poko and Richard Dawson.
