Project Pablo

Come to Canada You Will Like It

Montreal’s Patrick Holland (aka Project Pablo) inaugurates his personal imprint Verdicchio Music Publishing with Come to Canada You Will Like It, an instructive look back at some of his earlier work, unreleased until now. Given its provenance, it’s perhaps no surprise the material here is less refined than his more recent work, but it’s no less enjoyable for that. Like its pastoral cover art, the album sports a sunny, feel-good vibe throughout, with warm analogue tones filling in the gaps of its sometimes sparse arrangements. Indeed, most tracks consist of just a handful of elements, but almost always with a liberal dose of improv synth on top. Holland has a real talent for this, and, when coupled with his well-judged pacing and confident funk roots, it’s frankly enough. This funk affiliation helps make sense of the fact that every now and then Holland’s work recalls the sun-bleached sounds of Devonwho and Fyvr. Although these artists meld their hazy excursions to fractured hiphop beats (as opposed to Holland’s smoother, groove-oriented rhythms), they draw from the same funky well, and the similarities are worth noting for those looking to make sense of the bigger picture. Newcomers might want to check out Holland’s more recent material first, but those fresh

from appreciating his recent There’s Always More at the Store EP, this offers similar amiable rhythms and funky synth instrumentation. ( Verdicchio Music Publishing)