Population II

Hailing from Montreal, Population II are a power trio with a sprawling and muscular sound that traverses hard psychedelia, Krautrock, and sludgy proto-metal while nodding to avant-garde jazz and blown-out garage rock. Their earliest releases leaned into the sprawl, featuring sidelong tracks that ebbed and flowed in a wash of fuzz and thunder. Once they began to pare down the excess, what was left was a compact nugget of left-field psychedelia. This process started on 2020's À la Ô Terre; their Polaris-nominated fourth album, 2023's Électrons libres du québec, was even more song-oriented. During this prolific period, Population II released two more EPs, including a collaboration with the group Mulch and 2025's Maintenant Jamais.