New Audio: Population II Shares Ripping “La Trippance”

Acclaimed Montréal-based psych rock outfit and JOVM mainstays Population II — Pierre-Luc Gratton (vocals, drums), Tristan Lacombe (guitar, keys) and Sébastien Provençal (bass) — will be releasing their highly-anticipated, Dominic Vanchesteing-produced third album Maintenant Jamais on Friday through Bonsound.

The 14-song album reportedly sees the band drawing from their formative influence with a deep, sense of sophistication. The album will feature the previously released “Le thé set prêt,” and “Mariano (Jamais je ne t’oublierai)” a krautrock/prog rock-like take on psych rock featuring pulsating drum patterns paired with glistening synths and fuzzy power chords serving as a lush and languorous bed for Gratton’s dreamy cooing that sees the band subtly — and perhaps playfully — expanding upon their sound while reminding listeners of their adroit musicianship and songwriting.

Just as they were about to embark to Austin to play this year’s SXSW, the trio shared the  Dominic Vanchesteing-directed live short film, Carillon — Population II in concert. Shot among the massive, brutalist-inspired concrete monoliths of the Monument québécois à la mémoire des héros du Long-Sault. Recalling Pink Floyd‘s Live at Pompeii, the live footage features the band performing songs in front of a camera eye that languorously floats and circles around the band and the enormous monoliths around them. 

Just before the album’s Friday release, the French-Canadian trio shared the album’s third and latest single “La Trippance.” Beginning with a brooding intro that features buzzing Farfisa organ and buzzing synths, the track quickly morphs into arguably one of the album’s heaviest and hardest hitting tracks with Gratton’s drumming merging with staccato guitar bursts and a blazing proto-punk-meets-metal guitar solo before closing out with a brooding and buzzing coda.

Much like the album’s previously released singles, “La Trippance” showcases the French-Canadian trio’s uncanny tightness and musical prowess, while serving as a reminder that they are crafting some of Canada’s hardest hitting and trippiest material out there right now.