Richard Reed Parry maintains a central position in Arcade Fire while also performing with Bell Orchestre and New International Standards and working alongside the National, Sufjan Stevens, and Islands. Since Arcade Fire’s formation he has earned a Grammy with the group and earned notice for his vigorous stage presence. On his own he issued the instrumental suite Music for Heart and Breath in 2014 and followed it with the paired volumes of Quiet River of Dust in 2018 and 2019.
Parry entered the world in Ottawa and grew up surrounded by folk musicians; his father belonged to the Toronto collective Friends of Fiddler’s Green. At university he first pursued literary arts before shifting to electroacoustics and dance. In the early 2000s two ensembles began to take shape. Bell Orchestre, whose members included future Arcade Fire colleagues Sarah Neufeld and Tim Kingsbury, coalesced in 2002; the group produced three recordings, among them 2009’s As Seen Through Windows, which captured a Juno Award for Best Instrumental Album in 2011.
During that same period the first version of Arcade Fire appeared, and Parry’s initial studio contributions expanded into a permanent role. Following the 2003 Arcade Fire EP the lineup was reshaped when he brought in Neufeld, Kingsbury, and Jeremy Gara, the last of whom had already worked with him in New International Standards. The band’s debut, Funeral, arrived to wide acclaim in 2004. On that record Parry played electric guitar, synthesizer, organ, piano, accordion, xylophone, percussion, and double bass while also engineering and recording. Subsequent releases generated multiple Canadian and U.S. number-one albums, numerous Polaris and Juno nominations, and a Grammy for Album of the Year with 2010’s The Suburbs.
In 2012 Parry placed several solo pieces on compilations and soundtracks, one of them a Talk Talk tribute collection. Two years later, between Arcade Fire’s Reflektor and Everything Now, he released Music for Heart and Breath on Deutsche Grammophon; the orchestral work featured yMusic, Kronos Quartet, Nico Muhly, Nadia Sirota, and Bryce and Aaron Dessner of the National. Once promotion for Everything Now concluded in 2018, Parry issued Quiet River of Dust, Vol. 1, drawing on Japanese folk mythology, British folk traditions, and impressions gathered during a 2008 visit to Japan. The sessions, which reunited him with his father’s former musical associates, included the single “On the Ground.” The following year he delivered Quiet River of Dust, Vol. 2, cut during the same period yet centered on more inward themes.
