“Art rock band Billy Wylder carry the torch of the niche dug out by Talking Heads and their groundbreaking album "Remain in Light." –WBUR

Billy Wylder is an art-rock band led by Avi Salloway, blending interlocking rhythms, soaring electric guitar, violin, bass, drums, and layered electronics into a global-psych sound rooted in groove and transformation.

Salloway’s musical language was shaped early through deep roots in American folk traditions, including time spent learning from Pete and John Seeger, and expanded through years of international touring with Tuareg guitar hero Bombino. He has also performed and collaborated with artists including Jack Johnson, David Longstreth (Dirty Projectors), and Preservation Hall Jazz Band. These influences surface not as genre markers, but as a sensibility: rhythm as a connective force and sound as a space where tradition and experimentation coexist.

The songs unfold as mythic narratives—using elemental imagery to explore perception, collapse, and collective transformation.

Billy Wylder’s music exists in a fluid realm where art-rock, folk, and desert blues become raw material, refracted through a global-psych lens. Echoes of Talking Heads, Beck, and Tinariwen surface throughout, but the band’s sound is uniquely immersive, with hypnotic rhythms and songs that unfold like ecosystems.

Integral to Billy Wylder’s sound is longtime collaborator Rob Flax, whose work on violin, synths, and atmospheric textures brings cinematic depth and high-energy improvisation to the group’s sonic landscape.

Across more than 1,500 performances on six continents—including Coachella, New Orleans Jazz Fest, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center—Avi Salloway has developed a reputation for performances that are immersive, unifying, and continually evolving.

“A sense of mystery and majesty.” — No Depression

“Songs that sound impossibly up-to-minute while remaining steeped in tradition.” –PopMatters

“…spellbinding nine-song set that shines on Salloway’s inspired songwriting and vision for the singular band, which has never sounded better.” –The Times Argus & Rutland Herald