Pictoria Vark

Chicago-based bassist and songwriter Pictoria Vark brings her introspective, bass-led indie rock to Monarch Tavern in Toronto on May 10, 2026. After years on the road, she channels epiphanies about how quickly things shift into her second album, Nothing Sticks: ten songs that sit with impermanence and sift through gratitude, heartbreak and acceptance to find a steadier way to live. On stage, that reflection comes through in spare, low-end-driven arrangements, economical guitars and a voice that keeps its cool while the dynamics swell and recede, drawing on slowcore, emo and lo-fi without losing a melodic core.

Her 2022 debut The Parts I Dread set the tone; the new material sharpens it, trading diary-like detail and concise hooks in equal measure. Along the way she’s been noted by Rolling Stone, Pitchfork and Forbes, and has shared bills with La Dispute, Tegan and Sara and Tommy Lefroy. Songs that hold on just long enough to show what they’re made of, then let go.