When Piya Malik looks back at the very first seed that eventually blossomed into her band Say She She, she credits a friend who encouraged her to leave behind a 9-to-5 career and pursue music full time.

“Shawn was so instrumental in me actually just having the courage to do it,” she said. “I feel like courage is a gift. Some people think you have it, but I think it’s a gift you get from others, and different people in your life give it to you in different ways.”

Years later, Shawn’s gift of courage has transformed into a gift of music to the world: Say She She, a trio of three stunning singers — Malik, Sabrina Mileo Cunningham and Nya Gazelle — backed by an airtight band with a seemingly endless supply of funky grooves in its collective pocket. Together, they make what they call “disco-delic” music — a seamless blend of funk, soul and disco draped in psychedelic vibes and otherworldly vocal harmonies. The group’s name is a tribute to one of its greatest influences: Disco giants Chic, and their hit song “Le Freak.” (You know the one: “Ahhhhhhhh freak out! Le freak, c’est chic!”)

Say She She, playing Volcanic Theatre Pub Sunday, started in a very New York City way, when Malik and Cunningham connected because they could hear each other singing in adjacent apartments. They became fast friends, spotted Brown performing with other bands in town, and recruited her to join them on their pursuit of world domination. They released their debut album “Prism” in late 2022, then followed it up last fall with “Silver,” an exhilarating collection of tunes that landed on a number of year-end “best of” lists, most notably at the very top of the one chosen by tastemaking Los Angeles radio station KCRW.

For longtime music obsessives and devoted crate-diggers, Say She She’s sound recalls decades-old artists like Donna Summer, ESG, Grace Jones, Tom Tom Club, The Meters and Liquid Liquid. So it’s no great surprise that the band is often described as “retro” or “throwback,” though Malik believes that’s less about their record collections and more about their approach to making music.

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“Our sound is really a reflection of how we record and the limitations we place on that process — analog recording, recording live to tape,” she said. “Essentially you learn the song, go in with a band and cut it in three takes, then you choose the best take and you work with it. You live with the imperfections and you don’t try to tweak things too much.”

The result is a more organic sound that is both a reaction to the overproduced mainstream radio hits of her youth and an echo of the warmth and melancholy of the records and tapes her parents used to play in her childhood home, she said. For Malik, the goal is not to make music that sounds like a certain style, but to recapture the way her favorite music made her feel and, hopefully, to make other people feel the same way about Say She She.

“There’s something so magical and charming about capturing that first instance of when (a musical idea) is coming together. It’s like a time capsule of energy, and I think the excitement we’re feeling in that moment is something that translates to the listener. So I really appreciate anyone who’s paying attention to our music and feels anything,” Malk said.

“We just try to be genreless, in a sense of not being pigeonholed and not trying to be this or to be that,” she said. “We just want the freedom to be ourselves.”

If You Go

Who: Say She She, with Gitkin

When: 8 p.m. Sunday, doors open 7 p.m.,

Where: Volcanic Theatre Pub, 70 SW Century Drive, Bend

Cost: $22

Contact: volcanictheatre.com.