For the past decade, Patrick Holland has been a force in Montreal’s storied underground dance music scene. His expansive body of work spans various aliases, showcasing his versatility and creative range. Notably, he released Jump Source, his collaboration with fellow Montreal native Priori, just last month. Despite a recent shift towards guitar-forward indie pop, deviating from his signature deep, soothing house sound, Holland seems to retrace his musical roots on Infra. Composed of odds and ends from the last few years, this mixtape provides listeners with a return to his earlier style, while simultaneously expanding his palette.

In a recent conversation, I had the privilege of speaking with Mr. Holland about his latest release, delving into the inspirations and creative process behind "Intra." Holland offers a compelling glimpse into the evolution of his sound and the intentional nods to his musical origins within this eclectic mixtape.

What's up in Montreal?

Patrick Holland: Hibernation mode has kicked in, and I’m just plugging away in the studio having a blast.

What can you tell us about the mixtape?

It’s called Infra, it’s 16 tracks. Genre/tempo wise it moves around from track to track, but is sonically uniform in palette: lush, synth driven, dusty. I dove through a large batch of demos that I’d stockpiled over the years that were made in various stages of life and different studio settings. Revisiting them in my current headspace and mixing them out of the box in my current studio made me enjoy the old things I’d written, so it was a very fun process. 

In your announcement you mentioned that a lot of these songs were on the backburner for years. What motivated you to release them now?

At the top of 2020, I ditched the idea of releasing an instrumental electronic long form record, and focused on writing songs for an album that became You’re the Boss, released in 2022. The record I’d canned had loads of demos I’d been making since 2017—some close to being finished, some not—and I knew I had to finish what I’d started at some point. In 2022, I picked it back up, and released some of the tracks as EPs in 2023, which motivated me to get into the weeds of a full-length. Now that it’s all out, I can focus entirely on new ideas, which has me feeling lighter and excited.

Now that these are out of the way, what's next for you?

I’ve been working loads on other artists’ projects, some of which are starting to make their way out to the public very soon. My project with Priori called Jump Source has been a priority—we’ve got 2 EPs rolling out over the next few months with plenty of other ideas we’re stewing on. As far as solo stuff goes, I’ve enjoyed not rushing the creation side, but making the releasing part happen as quickly as possible once projects are done. I’ve got a bit of touring on the horizon, playing some of this new stuff live in Australia in late Feb/early March, and then DJing at Public Records on March 15th with DJ D.Dee.