Bibi Membership on Avant-Pop Sound, Constructing Group, and Discovering Mild in Chaos [Interview]

Canadian avant-pop duo Bibi Membership, made up of Adèle Trottier-Rivard and Nicolas Basque, have created a neighborhood hub—not just for followers who’re immediately moved by their music, but additionally for the household they’ve constructed and the close-knit circle they maintain pricey.

As a pair, band companions, and oldsters, the duo wears many hats, however at its core, connection drives their music, their message, and even the inspiration behind their identify.

On stage at this yr’s Pageant De Musique Émergente (FME) in Rouyn-Noranda–Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Québec, the group skilled that connection firsthand, feeling the strain the duo constructed and launched throughout their headline set.

Talking with them through Zoom from the consolation of their residence, they mentioned all issues Bibi Membership: their hopes, inspirations, inventive course of, and dream collaborations

For many who are new to your music, may you share a bit about how Bibi Membership first got here to be and what impressed the identify?

Nicolas: Nicely, we met by completely different initiatives—Adèle and me—we had been each musicians in several initiatives. I had one other undertaking known as Crops and Animals, and Adèle got here with us on tour as a musician and singer, and sooner or later, we exchanged lots of music collectively.

We bought alongside and we appreciated one another’s musical intuition.

After we bought again from tour, we began engaged on compositions collectively, and I believe that is the way it began. It was like a naive change, making an attempt to encourage one another to do our personal undertaking, and it turned Bibi Membership.

The identify Bibi Membership comes from after we had been searching for a reputation, and Adèle was taking a relaxation. We now have lots of children in our home—individuals all the time coming out and in. It’s all the time a bit chaotic, which is usually loopy and typically comforting in a great way.

Adèle calls all people that she likes “Bibi.” It comes from her aunt, who’s from Morocco and would name her Bibi. Folks say “Habibi” loads there.

Adèle: Which was like, that is the individuals I like membership—it’s my ‘Bibi Membership.’ It is our little neighborhood.

How would you describe your sound and musical id proper now? Has it modified in any respect because you first began making music?

Adèle: I’d say we make avant-pop music—it’s a style I actually relate to. We’re being extra affirmative with our sound.

Pictured: Adèle Trottier-Rivard of Bibi Membership singing at Pageant de Musique Émergente (2025). Photograph Credit score: DMC Photographe

For the previous few years, we’ve been looking and exploring, and all of it comes alive on stage throughout our reside performances. We actually dive into our sound and our music. It’s the easiest way to find ourselves and find out about ourselves musically. 

Perhaps now there’s a bit extra pressure in our sound than there was once.

Nicolas: Yeah, I would say now we’re in an period the place our music sounds—or tastes—like filth or the Earth. 

It’s grounded, and I really feel that’s what we’re going after. There’s a sensibility you possibly can really feel in your physique. That’s what we’re after after we’re within the studio. 

We consider it as not essentially one thing soiled, however music that’s near the bottom, possibly a bit heavier in a method.

What does your inventive course of seem like? Do you normally begin with devices and a set construction, or is it extra free-flowing? Has your course of modified over time?

Nicolas: It is sort of typically the identical method we write down concepts. Like we stated, our home is a busy place, so if we have now considered one of our children within the bathtub and we have now a minute, we’re typically in a state of emergency—in a bizarre method, and in a relaxing method too.

It’s like, “Oh, we have now this concept, document it on guitar or vocal, no matter it’s, on a telephone, depart it there, after which we’ll go to the studio sooner or later, guide studio time, verify our concepts, and construct a music from there.” Once more, actually instinctively.

A bit like a puzzle, too. We transfer fast—simply the 2 of us—after we work, and after we write music, we’re simply the 2 of us. And we attempt to belief. And I am going to discuss myself: I belief Adèle’s intuition—the musical intuition I belief essentially the most. So if she says that’s the course, I am going—and I believe it really works the identical the opposite method round?

Adèle: Sure.

Nicolas: And it tends to start out with music. Adèle typically writes lyrics as a result of I are inclined to engineer the session whereas plugging cables, after which we rework the lyrics whereas recording.

Generally, as soon as we have now a music, it informs the opposite music, and so they sort of reply to one another.

Yeah, it is a bit like a puzzle. You understand whenever you make a puzzle? You might have the body, and you then’re like, “Oh, now I see it,” after which all of it comes collectively?

Music comes first, extra typically, just like the melodies and possibly the manufacturing, earlier than the lyrics. We document whereas we write. We strive to not overthink or overwork something. If there is a mistake, we depart it. Perhaps it opens a door to one thing else, or like, “Oh, we didn’t see that we may go there.”

Yeah, that is the factor—we’re making an attempt to watch out to not overwork it. After we work with collaborators, like a mixer or for art work, we strive to not let individuals overwork something—simply go, belief them, and assist them belief their intuition, bodily.

Are you able to speak in regards to the themes mentioned in your most up-to-date album and the inspiration behind the songs? 

Adèle: The identify of the album is Feu de garde. The Google translation means ‘Watch Hearth.’ 

So, watch fireplace was the primary inspiration, I might say—the primary phrase that basically impressed us.  It is a navy phrase, so there isn’t any actual connection to our themes on the document. However the phrase itself actually spoke to us as a result of, in occasions of battle, it is the hearth that’s maintained—maintaining individuals heat and making them really feel protected and secure. We sort of translated that to our actuality.

There are lots of themes on the document; we speak in regards to the people who find themselves near us, our little neighborhood, as we talked about.. 

Additionally, there’s a theme of contemplation, however I don’t wish to sound too imprecise as a result of contemplation can sound such as you’re simply there, in a peaceable mode, which isn’t actually what we had been searching for. It’s extra about discovering some type of consolation within the chaos.

Yeah, we talked loads about fatality—demise, but additionally the fatality of life. As a result of we’re mother and father, a lot of the document focuses on parenthood. But it surely additionally extends to {our relationships} with different individuals we love, relating themes of neighborhood and the inevitability of life.

Nicolas: There’s additionally stuff about anxiousness. A whole lot of songs the place we simply identify issues we see, or discuss one thing taking place round us. In a method, it comes from touring loads and being anxious—like being in a park and naming stuff round you simply to calm your self. So there’s that side.

Adèle: I believe nature is all the time in there, as a result of it’s a spot the place we really feel snug, grounded—the place once more, there’s lots of chaos, but it surely’s a comforting chaos. There are not any straight traces in nature. Every little thing’s curved and peculiar.

In a method, we associated that idea to our music, like Nico was saying. He talked about intuition and never overworking something. 

There’s this attention-grabbing connection to nature the place it’s sort of chaotic, however not violent. There’s pressure with out violence, and we like having this picture after we play LIVE—creating pressure with our devices. 

It’s not violent in any respect, however nonetheless, you possibly can really feel the emotion. We really feel lots of feelings after we play.

Nicolas: However I might say, general, our key theme is neighborhood. 

There are references to when Adèle was within the Lady Scouts, when she was younger—so there are references to studying to sing on that document particularly, being in a gaggle at night time, what you’d do to consolation your self, to have fun the achievement of the day, and to transcend what you thought you might do. 

Simply all these themes put collectively.

What are your inventive influences in your music? They’ll come from any type of artwork.

Nicolas: For me, I believe loads about theatricality after we play music. We didn’t have our lighting individual with us at FME, and he or she’s normally the one who thinks about these issues on a regular basis. 

Good theater or dance typically influences us, I discover, as a result of it lingers after it’s over. A music present is completely different—you possibly can hearken to the songs once more afterward and relive the expertise. However with theater, you go residence and preserve eager about it, and that sticks with me.

Pictured: Nicolas Basque of Bibi Membership acting at Pageant de Musique Émergente (2025). Photograph Credit score: DMC Photographe

Because it’s simply the 2 of us on stage, I believe loads about motion—the way it could make you are feeling gigantic on stage. 

I wish to create that sort of affect, like whenever you’re an adolescent and also you see a play that makes you assume, “That’s what I wish to do with my life,” or “I wish to be a part of that,” and even, “I simply realized one thing from this.” 

That’s the sort of feeling I’m chasing.

Adèle: It’s arduous—there are such a lot of issues that encourage me. After we really began the undertaking, it felt like for just a few years, I didn’t actually perceive the place I wished to go along with my voice. I didn’t know if I wished to write down in French or in English, and it wasn’t actually clear. I didn’t know the place to go.

I actually performed with my voice, and I’d been listening loads to Stereolab. They got here out once I was younger. It was the primary time I used to be listening to a lady who sang each in French and in English, you really cannot actually discover, it’s simply a part of the music, it’s like one other instrument within the music, and it actually spoke to me. 

As a result of the singer has this manner of singing the place it turns into greater than a language—it’s a part of the music. It creates an emotion. 

She sings with honesty, and that basically spoke to me.

I bear in mind we began writing in French, making an attempt that, and it felt pure. I may actually really feel that I used to be being myself once I sang. 

That was a giant inspiration for me—possibly extra for the lyrics aspect. And in addition, as a lady in music, to be pleased with my voice and attempt to discover my very own language, in a method.

Do you’ve got any upcoming initiatives that you just’re enthusiastic about releasing?

Nicolas: Sure, we completed a brand new album that will probably be launched in October 2026, so we’re excited.

We carried out two new songs at FME, and it was enjoyable to play them. I imply, we took dangers as a result of there was one we hadn’t actually rehearsed, however we simply jumped in, and it felt good. In order that was enjoyable, yeah.

Pictured: Adèle Trottier-Rivard and Nicolas Basque of Bibi Membership acting at Pageant de Musique Émergente (2025). Photograph Credit score: DMC Photographe

What lyrical themes are you exploring in your upcoming album?

Adèle: Yeah, this document is principally impressed by demise. We had shut individuals die within the final yr, and it actually impressed us, after all, to create—to attempt to discover a approach to simply launch one thing out of it and create one thing. 

But it surely’s greater than that. It is demise, however there’s all the time a bit of sunshine in all of this, some hope.

Nicolas: It’s not absolutely darkish and miserable. It is extra about demise and life. 

Adèle described it whereas we had been working—she typically stated it ought to really feel such as you’re fencing in outdated Greek rooms and dancing with a primal vitality. 

So there is a pressure. I believe it’s impressed by issues that occurred, but it surely’s additionally about life, as a result of a recurring theme is the will to reside and to like.

That’s the strain—you possibly can’t have one with out the opposite. It’s additionally coloured by every thing taking place proper now, like in Palestine, and all of that.

Yeah, there’s one thing we’re making an attempt to embrace with feelings—pushing the emotion to the acute. That’s what we’re doing with this one.

I’m excited; it’s nearer to how we sound reside, too. There’s much less layering; it’s extra to the purpose, daring.

What do you hope listeners really feel or take away out of your music—outdated or new? 

Adèle: Humanity, just a bit little bit of humanity once they depart. Once they depart the venue and return residence that they really feel one thing with different individuals within the room, that they weren’t essentially their telephone, and so they return residence, after which have a look at what’s taking place on the earth, and possibly they’re increasingly more open to being related to different people. 

Nicolas: Yeah, I typically take into consideration that too. 

Adèle: So, I believe—yeah—a way of empathy, neighborhood, and humanity, in a method.

Any dream collaborations you hope to have sooner or later—and even previous ones that had been particularly significant?

Adèle: I imply, we had a extremely attention-grabbing collaboration final yr. We launched a deluxe model of Feu de Garde, our final document. 

We collaborated with Calvin Johnson—we wrote to him, and he answered.

We now have this music, “Winery,” that we all the time thought could be some type of dialog between two individuals, and we lastly simply recorded it, with me singing all of the components myself.

We had the choice to rearrange the music and check out one thing completely different. We reached out to Calvin Johnson, and he was actually open to collaborating. From a distance, we exchanged just a few emails, and he recorded on his aspect. It created this actually unusual and distinctive model of considered one of our songs, which was actually particular.

He’s fairly a personality—in a great way. You’ll be able to inform this individual has lots of character.

Nicolas: It will be good as a result of, as we talked about, Stereolab has an incredible voice and a powerful stage presence. I really like her presence on the document, and I like how she performs guitar together with her thumb.

So possibly a guitar and vocal collaboration—that might be enjoyable. It will be a pleasant duo

In case your music had been a spot, what would it not be?

Nicolas: I might say proper now, all can consider iis Greek ruins. The place they’re falling aside. Perhaps it is at night time. That is how I see it.

Adèle: Yeah,  it is attention-grabbing as a result of I noticed concrete. But it surely’s as a result of, quick story, we reside good subsequent to a giant overpass, it is like a freeway. It’s like this massive, big piece of concrete, and it’s extremely loud, and tons of vehicles move there on a regular basis. 

Since we have been residing right here. We sort of began to love this massive, dusty place. I all the time have this place in thoughts associated to our music, I all the time consider this massive freeway

Nicolas: In Montréal, it is known as 40. That is the variety of the freeway.

Pertaining to Québécois tradition, are you able to speak a bit in regards to the Quebec music scene and the way it has impressed your music?

Nicolas: It is fairly a novel scene as a result of it is actually various and wholesome in a great way. There are lots of artists who by no means depart Québec, and there are lots of artists who tour as effectively.

There’s nonetheless a division between what we would name the Francophone and Anglophone music scenes—some artists transfer between the 2, and there is all the time been some crossover. There’s additionally an enormous digital music scene and a giant Francophone hip-hop scene.

For us, I believe we have now pals, and Adèle has a bit of choir with 5 different pals who’re all singers with their very own initiatives. To me, that is inspiring—to see individuals who every have their very own undertaking, making music that is fairly completely different.

A whole lot of them lean extra towards folks experimental or jazz avant-garde, and that scene remains to be actually current in Montréal. It is a actually attention-grabbing approach to craft songs—there are nonetheless vocals and lyrics, but it surely’s arduous to explain.

There’s one thing avant-garde about it, but it surely’s nonetheless very easy to hearken to. That scene has been inspiring to me. I have been listening to it loads, and that music scene is inspiring. It is all project-led by people who find themselves not dudes, which I believe is vital.

I really feel the variety in music is extra current right here. In fact, there are nonetheless lots of dudes in music, but it surely’s altering, and there is an effort to enhance steadiness. You see that at festivals like FME, for instance.

Yeah, it’s a various scene with so many issues taking place, and a few of these initiatives play in entrance of 1000’s of individuals, even when they’ve by no means been heard of outdoor the realm. It is attention-grabbing.

Adèle: I used to be making an attempt to determine the way it influences us in our personal music, and… I do not actually know precisely. I believe it’s within the singing exhibits, within the pals who affect us. 

If we go see Hall or every other band and their pals, or see them crossing borders and touring exterior Canada, that is inspiring. To me, the affect comes from seeing what different pals are doing

Has a fan ever instructed you one thing about your music that utterly stunned you?

Nicolas: I used to be stunned the primary time somebody cried after a present. That also will get me each time as a result of it’s not one thing that occurs typically in life—to maneuver somebody to tears in a constructive method.

After we toured a bit within the States and performed in Baltimore, after all, all of the venues we carry out at are thought-about secure areas for individuals who might not really feel secure of their every day lives. 

Typically, we meet individuals who simply join with the music, even when they don’t communicate the language, however one thing about seeing Adèle sing makes them really feel secure and cozy to speak to us, to share their lives. Yeah, that’s all the time stunning

Adèle: Yeah, we met, so many stunning individuals. However I might possibly say, like Nico stated, it is all the time stunning to fulfill somebody who was crying. It is all the time a extremely uncooked connection you make. 

It’s extremely intense and so pure, and all the time so constructive to really feel that the individual simply felt actually secure and free for a second. It’s extremely valuable, yeah.

If Bibi Membership had been a film soundtrack, what style would it not be—horror, motion, documentary, or one thing else?

Adèle Wow, that is an attention-grabbing query. Apocalyptic, however nonetheless with a little bit of hope on the finish or one thing.

Yeah, like a dystopian world the place they’re looking for a approach to survive—and it really works out in the long run. We survive.

Nicolas: One music we labored on, we used it because the background for the teaser of the film Amadeus, a movie about Mozart. It’s ridiculous—however a extremely good film. Persons are dancing, sporting wigs, and it’s extravagant. It was a joke amongst our pals.

Adèle: It was working.

Nicolas: So possibly it’s like a Renaissance film, I don’t know—individuals in wigs, performing festive.

What’s on the horizon for Bibi Membership?

Adèle: One massive factor developing—and I really feel a bit burdened about it—is that we’re nominated for the Polaris shortlist. It’s sort of just like the Canadian Mercury Prize for information, so our album is among the ten information on the listing. It’s a bit annoying, sure, but it surely’s additionally an enormous recognition amongst different Canadian artists.

We discover out in two weeks. However relating to our excursions, our excursions are extra most likely this winter. We’ll have touring developing. 

Yeah, we’re just about getting ready the discharge of our subsequent document, it’s lots of work. 

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