Sarah Neufeld

Canadian violinist and composer Sara Neufeld first gained notice as an Arcade Fire member and as co-founder of the post-rock outfit Bell Orchestre. Acclaim has also followed her solo and collaborative work, especially the 2015 album Never Were the Way She Was, which received a Juno Award and landed on the Polaris Prize longlist. Her third solo album, Detritus, surfaced in 2021 after she drew inspiration from dancer and choreographer Peggy Baker.

Neufeld’s connection to Arcade Fire started when Bell Orchestre, her principal band at the time, shared studio space with the group during sessions for its 2004 debut, Funeral. She and Bell Orchestre colleague Richard Parry contributed to that record and later joined Arcade Fire full-time for the 2007 release Neon Bible and the 2010 album The Suburbs.

Neufeld launched her solo career with Hero Brother, which engineer and co-producer Nils Frahm captured in Berlin and which Constellation issued in August 2013. After touring with Arcade Fire behind Reflektor, she reunited in the studio with saxophonist Colin Stetson; the pair had previously scored the 2013 independent film Blue Caprice. Their spring 2015 album Never Were the Way She Was presented newly co-written pieces recorded live without added overdubs or loops. The widely praised set earned the duo a Juno Award for Best Instrumental Album.

Paper Bag Records delivered her second solo album, The Ridge, early the next year; the record gave greater prominence to the rhythm section, featuring Arcade Fire’s Jeremy Gara on drums, and included more vocals than earlier efforts. Neufeld’s third LP, Detritus, arrived in May 2021 and incorporated further work with Gara as well as appearances by Bell Orchestre’s Pietro Amato and saxophonist Stuart Bogie; the musician described the collection as one “inspired by both a sense of interior aloneness, and a sense of deep intimacy.”