Garage / Psych Rock and Official Selection Population II performing for the Montreal Magique Music Show on November 18 at 2pm

M for Montréal is back & like everything else about these strange times, they’ve had to adapt to a brand new reality. One of cyberspace and pre-recorded (as opposed to live) artistry, of sharing the divide to get the semblance of a whole. If we can’t share a Live experience, we’ll share it, like it, and post it, in post. I sat down with ascending stars Population II for a quick 5 questions. We didn’t Actually sit down together or anything. As conscientious, health conscious millennials with no clear vocation and even less time on our hands, we exited our comfort zones and had a long phone conversation. It was held in our Native French, as opposed to the Queens received pronunciation or any North American variant; but I like to think it was held with flare. We spoke of future plans and the Roots, of concept albums and the method to their mayhem. We talked of stars unseen and late night television. It was a nice chat and I hope you enjoy it.

They’re a francophone band that just got signed to a major American label, so you know there’s something special about them.

Their sound: hard, instrumental, nostalgic, and flowing, though familiar; is welcome change from an increasingly digital landscape. Their influences are clear, their message however, like their ora, is a little more ephemeral and hard to pin down. Like a glazed star gazer, they’re searching. And like a favorite ex girlfriend, they believe that somewhere beyond the horizon, there’s a niche carved out just for them, that they can call home.

What we know for sure is that these good old boys, when push came to shove, spent the day distributing their own albums. They aren’t afraid of rolling up their sleeves and pounding the pavement.

We also  know that their 2nd studio album, the aptly named À la Ô Terre was soled out despite having been released on Halloween night in a season haunted on every corner by the specter of dark things to come. These guys are aiming high, while staying grounded.  It’s a tough job, but I’m glad they’re out there doing it.

With an ever expanding vision and a hunger for new opportunities, Population II’s constantly evolving acid, desert, sound is on a unique journey of self discovery. And like all of us in these hard times, still finding their place.

They named themselves after a population of stars which, due to burning lighter metals, tends to go unseen by the human eye. It may have been a vision of things that were. It was their lot in the years which lead up to their auspicious signing to Castle Face Records. But if they keep the pedal to the floor and their eye on the ball. If they high octane refrains, keep their hopes high, their heads in the game and invest in themselves and their ever expanding flow; they might burn just bright enough to be seen, and sear for themselves a respectable place among the constellation of  well known stars we regularly look up to. Check out the full interview here: If you got the balls for it… or precious audio time to dig through other emerging bands of a similar genre from our past M for Montreal archives! This year, M for Montreal‘s program will be presented entirely on a virtual platform. To see the virtual concerts that are open to the public, click here.