INTERVIEW // Embracing Imperfections With Afternoon Bike Ride

Listening to Afternoon Bike Ride is like spending the day indoors, tucked away in the pages of your favorite book with a warm beverage keeping you company. The window, slightly open, lets in just enough of the cool breeze and carries birdsong and faraway car sounds into your apartment. Listening to Afternoon Bike Ride makes you feel safe, and at home, no matter where you are. 

The night Afternoon Bike Ride played, Baby’s All Right was transformed into a kaleidoscope of sound and lights. The atmosphere was ecstatic but calm as the band entered the stage cutting the chatter. Lia Kurihara, the lead singer, warmly ushered everyone closer to the stage with a wave of her hands, letting us deep into the memory of the chalet where the album came together. The band went away to the chalet in Montreal, along with Lia’s dad, and worked on Glossover for over 5 weeks.

 “I think a big lesson that I learned last year was the idea of the wholeness of life, and that there’s good and bad in every experience that we have. And so embracing imperfections, uncertainty, and challenge as much as we embrace joy, and excitement will help us to suffer less, and also will help us to live a truer life.  I hadn't identified it in such a succinct way as I'm speaking now, but when we were writing the album in February, I think we were just feeling that. My dad was with us in the chalet, and we were all taking care of him. The war in Ukraine had just started, and  we were in this beautiful space where we could just make music. All these things in our lives were reflected in their wholeness in the music.” said Lia. She underwent a transformation as she took on the role of caregiver for her father who has Alzheimer’s, and the shimmering metamorphosis of her relationship with her father is captured in the album.

“I never wanna make you feel I'm haunted

By what I have to do to keep you well

The ghosts of who I was come back to taunt me

I used to be more carefree than this”

From Nothing in Particular, Glossover (2023)

It’s hard to believe it’s only the band’s third-ever show, as the music flows out of them seamlessly, and they work in perfect harmony. “It was just good old jam sessions,” said Éloi Le Blanc-Ringuette, (who does vocals, keys, drums, and programming!) for the band. “We met at David's like once a week-ish. The first two EPs we put out were just these jam sessions. But, we realized we really liked working with each other and kind of grew from there.” After getting signed to their label Friends of Friends in 2021, the band started to take on more significant projects, like their first album. “After doing the first album, we realized we really loved working together and had good chemistry. We wanted to push ourselves further with the second one and we wanted it to be really us.” Éloi said the first album had more collaborations and was like a “big jam session with friends,” but that they wanted the second album to be more personal. “Leah had a lot to say and it just made sense. And then we got the grant to go away for a month and dive in. It was a really amazing, and beautiful experience.”

The band said the NYC show was their favorite, because of the energy of their audience who seemed to quiet down completely after some songs as if they were taking the time to fully absorb their weight and meaning. Lia laughed and said they noticed just how special the energy of their NYC show felt after playing other shows, “Can we just play more New York?” The show is their favorite for another reason too, it’s where they first formed their pre-show ritual. “We create a link between the three of us and just hold it,” said Lia. “Breathe for a second, let each other know that we’re there and we got this,” said David Tanton, who also, impressively, contributes to vocals, guitar, drums, and programming, like his multi-talented bandmates. 

You cannot help but feel like wrapping the band up in a pretty bow, and keeping them safe in a tissue-lined box under your bed – their bond represents everything good and right about the world. When asked to describe their dream show, David and Élio fantasized about having Bibio and Burial, two English musicians as well as Phoebe Bridgers on their show. Lia pictured it being at Glastonbury. Their ‘fantasies’ don’t seem that far-fetched at all, and if you were in the audience at Baby’s watching the crowd completely captured and hanging on to the band’s every word and tune, you’d think so too.

Words: Pari Marwah // Photos: Hannah Roberts

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