Montreal’s very own indie punk outfit Avec Plaisir quietly stormed onto the scene in 2019 with their tongue in cheek lyricism and math tinged riffs. The four piece made their mark with the 2022 debut album, blending gruff vocal deliveries, earworm melodies and sharp riffs.


After a run of split releases, Avec Plaisir returned with their sophomore effort, Active Listening in late 2025. With a soundtrack built for introspection and shared listening, Active Listening brings the same charm and melodic depth—orbiting emo, punk and indie rock with even grander emotion.

  • Guitar/Vocals — Sam Winsor
  • Bass/Vocals — Julien Besner
  • Guitar — Simon Talbot
  • Drums — Maxime Verreault
  • Trumpet/Vocals — Sean Kershaw
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Meet Your New Faves Avec Plaisir


Born out of a tight-knit circle of friends and coworkers, the band wasted no time finding their stride, quickly moving from their Demos For Dave roots to a polished sound defined by high-energy riffs and "noodley" guitar work. While they are often tagged with the Midwest emo label, the band finds their true North in the raw, gang-vocal energy of French indie-punk, creating a style that is as technical as it is infectious.

Despite their self-proclaimed "sad boy" status, Avec Plaisir is driven by a love for fun, sincere songwriting and the thrill of the live show. From subtle nods to The Smiths to honest explorations of burnout in tracks like "FINAL_final-v7.psd," their music balances lightheartedness with genuine craft.

- The Scene

Top Math Rock Releases 2025


For a band with such sweet vocals and harmonies, you wouldn’t necessarily think it would be their first (or second) move to release an instrumental version of their highly emotive LP. But upon, ahem, active listening, it’s easy to hear that Avec Plaisir shred emphatically in every department. We’ll take both, please!


- Fecking Bahamas

Best Emo Albums of 2022


Here’s pretty much all I could find out about Avec Plaisir: this is a band of 30-somethings from Montreal that plays a kind of mathy, melodic, and unmistakably “revival” type of emo that immediately brings hometown heroes Gulfer to mind. Why every one of their song titles begins with “J” is a mystery for another time. What I know about their debut is that An Album might not be as literal as the band name itself, which translates to “with pleasure.”

This isn’t the kind of music that makes 30-somethings start a band unless they had their hearts in it, and every second of An Album radiates with the joy of artists revisiting the music of their youth with a sense of purpose and chops that can only be accessed with age.

- Uproxx

Top Math Rock Releases 2024


Okay, you don’t need an FFO for this one – you know you’re going to love it, and we do too. Each band here puts it all on the table, and normally on splits you see bands sort of rein in the risk, so you really get the sense that everyone really trusted each other here, and that every choice was made intentionally. While generally too difficult to manage, More Friends Than Fans is a four-gy we can wholeheartedly recommend.


- Fecking Bahamas

Album of the Year Review


My issue when I listen to Midwest emo is that I wish it was less Midwest emo-y. Nevertheless, the majority of the songs from this album ended up in my liked songs lol.

- catlikethief