Music, Sounds

Population II, Électrons libres du québec: REVIEW

by Darcy MacDonald

“Population II are intricately aligned musicians, first and foremost, who have made a pact to explore their ranges of skill and influence through the prismatic lens of old school garage rock, and let the listener decide what it all really means.”

Population II, Électrons libres du québec (Bonsound)

Enthusiasm for modern psych-rock continues unabated as another calendar year draws closer to the next. This Montreal-based band has an upper hand in terms of standing out from the pack. Many emerging players in the genre seem to simply be people who decide it would be cool to start a band, and that their band should play psych-rock. Population II comes from a school of musicianship that suggests the trio (a singer/drummer, keyboardist/guitarist and bass player) are intricately aligned musicians, first and foremost, who have made a pact to explore their ranges of skill and influence through the prismatic lens of old school garage rock, and let the listener decide what it all really means. If that analysis is flawed, the ideas at work on their sophomore album most certainly are not. The band is superb in concert. As studio recordings go, there may not be enough space for their ideas to flourish here. Containing free electrons seems counterintuitive. Nonetheless, as a measure of power, Électrons libres du québec has a magnetic pull. 7.5/10 Trial Track: “Tô Kébec”

“Tô Kébec” by Population II, from Électrons libres du québec

For more on Population II, please visit the Bonsound website.

This article was originally published in the November 2023 issue of Cult MTL. 

For our latest in music, please visit the Music section.

Posted in Music, Sounds

by Darcy MacDonald

Contributor
Darcy MacDonald has been with Cult MTL since day one, a decade ago. Which means today, he’s a middle-aged white guy (albeit one more interested in other people’s ideas than in his own). He was previously a columnist and reporter for Montreal Mirror, and has also created content (FKA “written”) for RBMA, Noisey, Montreal Gazette, The National Post and probably some other great places he’s forgotten about. Music, culture, community and miscellaneous questions in search of answers all come across his desk, sooner or later.