"Gimmicks" is the second studio album by Population II, the psychedelic rock trio from Montreal, Quebec, released in 2022 on Bonsound Records. The band — comprised of Tristan Lacombe on guitar and vocals, Fat Dawg on bass, and Shred Kelly on drums — had made a striking debut with their self-titled album in 2020, establishing themselves as one of the most exciting and genuinely distinctive acts in the Canadian underground rock scene. "Gimmicks" arrived as a confident and ambitious follow-up, deepening the sonic explorations of their debut while pushing further into the hypnotic, improvisational territory that makes Population II such a compelling live and recorded proposition. The album was recorded live off the floor in a manner that captures the band's extraordinary chemistry as an ensemble, translating the visceral energy of their live performances onto tape with remarkable fidelity.The album draws on a rich constellation of influences — late 1960s and early 1970s psychedelic rock, krautrock, progressive rock, and the cosmic improvisational tradition of bands like Can, Amon Düül II, and early Hawkwind — while remaining thoroughly contemporary in its sensibility and execution. Population II's approach to this material is not nostalgic or reverential but genuinely exploratory, using the vocabulary of classic psychedelic rock as a launching point for extended, trance-inducing instrumental passages that reward deep, immersive listening. Lacombe's guitar work is central to the album's identity — fluid, inventive, and capable of sustaining long improvisational arcs without losing melodic coherence — while the rhythm section provides an almost metronomic propulsion that gives the music its hypnotic forward momentum.
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