The
Bell Orchestre was formed in 2005, along with Sarah Neufeld, Tim Kingsbury as well as Stefan Schneider and French horn player Pietro Amato. Parry primarily plays double bass and is the de facto producer. Bell Orchestre released
As Seen Through Windows with
Arts & Crafts Records on March 10, 2009. It was recorded with
John Mcentire in Soma Electric Studios in Chicago, Illinois. The album won a 2011
Juno Award for best instrumental album. A long-time core member of
Arcade Fire, he co-produced and collaborated on the debut
EP,
Arcade Fire, before the first lineup of the band fell apart. Helping to reform and recreate the band, Parry brought in Bell Orchestre bandmate
Sarah Neufeld, and New International Standards bandmates,
Tim Kingsbury and
Jeremy Gara. He has also made musical contributions to albums by
The National,
Little Scream,
Sufjan Stevens,
The Unicorns and
Islands. On the latter's critically acclaimed 2006 album
Return to the Sea, he played several instruments, sang background vocals and arranged strings, and appeared with the band's 2016 10-year-anniversary shows where they played the album in full. Parry has also performed in a cover band called Phi Slamma Jamma along with
Arcade Fire bandmates
Will Butler, Jeremy Gara, and Tim Kingsbury. The group performed at the 2011
POP Montreal Festival as well as the 2012
Crossing Brooklyn Ferry Festival. On January 20, 2007, Parry returned to Canterbury High to perform a concert with Arcade Fire in the school's cafeteria. Only 400 students and staff were permitted to attend the show. Beforehand, those chosen had the opportunity to preview new, unreleased songs from the Arcade Fire's upcoming album. After the show, there was a brief autograph period and the students met with the band members. He was also formerly a member of the band the New International Standards, with Tim Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara. His first work for Orchestra, entitled
For Heart, Breath and Orchestra. It was recorded by the
Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, on their 2011 album
From Here on Out alongside pieces by
Jonny Greenwood and
Nico Muhly. He has also written commissioned works for
Kronos Quartet,
yMusic and
Bryce Dessner, and his chamber works also have been performed by the Calder Quartet and Warhol Dervish. Parry appeared at each night of the 2012
All Tomorrow's Parties festival, mounting a "moving surround sound sci-fi composition for bicycles and boomboxes" entitled
Drones/Revelations, as well as performing songs with a folk trio called
Quiet River of Dust, and as part of a chamber music ensemble performing Parry's
Music for Heart and Breath. The lineup included
Owen Pallett,
Nico Muhly,
Bryce Dessner,
Aaron Dessner,
Gaspar Claus,
Nadia Sirota,
Kyle Resnick, and Dave Nelson. He occasionally performs as drummer and backup singer with
Little Scream. Parry has also collaborated with
The National, arranging vocals and writing guitar parts for their songs on their 2010 album
High Violet and appeared with them singing and playing guitar and double bass in their
Vevo live event as well as on their
Late Night with David Letterman appearance in 2011. He has joined them frequently onstage as a guest during many performances, including
Lollapalooza 2010 (at which Arcade Fire also performed) and also during a brief segment of Arcade Fire's 2011 midwestern US tour in which The National acted as openers. Parry has also collaborated with
Bryce Dessner of The National on classical compositions, performing together at the Edinburgh Festival in 2015. Parry and brothers Aaron and Bryce Dessner who play guitar in The National have been long-term friends since meeting on the American alt-rock circuit, regularly appearing on the same festival bills worldwide. The albums are inspired by Buddhist myths, death poems, British folk songs, and a recent trip to Japan. This was the last album by The Sadies to feature founding member Dallas Good, who died suddenly of natural causes on February 17, 2022, at the age of 48. Shortly after, Parry announced via Instagram that he and Dallas had been working on an album on and off since 2008 with the working title
The Watchtower. Unfinished at the time of Dallas Good's death, Parry plans to finish the album. In 2023, Parry composed
the score of the
biographical drama film
The Iron Claw by
Sean Durkin, the score for
Eileen by
William Oldroyd, and the score for the hybrid documentary
Adrianne and the Castle by
Shannon Walsh. In April 2025, Arcade Fire announced that Parry would miss their upcoming
Pink Elephant tour; Parry had taken
parental leave whilst he and his wife prepared for the birth of their first child. == Personal life ==