Population II have released a new EP, Gimmicks, out today on Bonsound, pushing further into the electronic direction they began exploring on last year’s Maintenant Jamais. The Montreal trio are moving away from the guitar-led sound that defined their earlier records, with this release built almost entirely around keyboards and synthesizers.
The shift was deliberate. Pierre-Luc Gratton said the band set a rule going in, keyboards first, guitars out. Tracks like 13 1 3 1 and Poudreuse Blues lean into that constraint, using synth layers, upright piano, and fuzz bass to carry the weight instead of riffs. The result feels less anchored, with melodies and textures doing more of the work than structure.
Rhythm changed too. The band brought in drum machines, which altered how the songs move and where they land. Patterns repeat, stretch, then snap back, with bursts of intensity coming from shifts in tone rather than speed. It’s a different kind of momentum than what they’ve relied on in the past.
The release lands a year after Maintenant Jamais, which was shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize and helped push the band beyond the local circuit. Since then, they’ve toured across Europe, the United States, Canada, and Mexico, folding new ideas into a schedule that hasn’t slowed much.
A vinyl edition of Gimmicks arrives April 24, with Serpent Échelle on the B-side, a project that was previously only available on cassette and digitally.
Photos – Rose Cormier
