Lac La Biche – The July 19 edition of the 2025 Music in the Forest concert series at Sir Winston Churchill Provincial Park will feature the eclectic sounds of the Calgary-based musical group Melyssa Lee and the Education Party.
According to Melyssa Lee, who sings vocals and guitar for the band, the Education Party started off as an electronic folk band playing the original music that she had written as a singer-songwriter. The outfit is comprised of Lee, Jerevieux (vocals, bass, mandolin, and Chapman Stick - an electric musical instrument that physically resembles the fretboard of an electric guitar), Cindy Ma (vocals, keyboard), Elspeth Bruce (violin), and Dan Abelseth (drums, percussion).
“Currently, we play cinematic style neo-folk with some new wave or post-punk elements. Think of us like storytellers that play music to paint a picture with music,” Lee told Lakeland This Week, explaining that the result is fusing tones of old and new, an envisioning of Arcade Fire meeting Jewel with Depeche Mode.
Melyssa Lee and the Education Party released their first single as of April 2025, with Lee adding that the group’s first EP is anticipated to be released this fall. An album is on the horizon for next year as well.
The July 19 show will mark the band’s first time performing in Lac La Biche, and, according to Lee, folks who attend the concert can expect to hear the full band rendition of some of her folk storytelling music from her ‘Treasures’ album as well as her original EP ‘Simply’. People will also be able to hear the tune ‘Sam McGee’s Lover’s Lament, a song playing on the Canadian fictional character Sam McGee, which Lee said is the band’s first release, long with some original tunes that have not yet been released.
“We will also mix it up with some well-loved covers in the unique style and genre of Education Party (part folk, part cinematic-electronic, part soft new wave),” Lee explained. “The result is a cup-filling evening of music that will guarantee you to leave feeling connected and hopefully inspired.”
As for where the name ‘Education Party’ originates, Lee explained that this is a play on a bunch of different things, including the backgrounds of the members of the band and their constant need to learn, to be educated, and to be curious.
Education Party, she continued, also has a political ring to it. According to Lee, Jerevieux suggested the name, adding, “If I ever started a political party, I would call it Education Party.”
On top of working on writing and recording songs, the band has dates booked in Salmon Arm, Pincher Creek, as well as at the Eastern Slopes Music Festival during the Aug. 23 weekend. Melyssa Lee and the Education Party band will also be playing a couple of featured shows at the King Eddy music venue in Calgary and performing with the National Music Centre Summer Series this fall.
When asked what the members of Melyssa Lee and the Education Party enjoy most about hitting the stage, Lee explained they enjoy the connection acquired by playing together, and in exchanging musical energy with audiences and listers.
“It is definitely a full exchange, and it is worth it when a live audience returns that energy, full circle, back to us at the end of the song,” she said. “Music is a universal language and can mean different things to different people…in the end, if it evokes any emotion, memory or connection, then we have done our jobs as artists.”
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the music starts at 7:30 p.m.
