The thing that I worship about James Di Salvio’s collective is the same thing that most critics crucify: A broad eclectic style, but that is just the key that unveils Di Salvio’s indisputable love for music. I rather listen to 20 Bran Van 3000’s albums in a row, than 3 by any other band with a “clearly defined style”, since I have always thought that listening to a same style for hours numbs your hearing and can produce brain fatigue, the tricky part is that, at BV3k’s current rate, 66 years must pass in order to produce 20 albums, but I wasn’t writing to lament on the low quantity but instead to focus on the high quality of their latest production: Rosé.

Their third album in a decade is a sonic collage that swings from tree to tree of genres with such a gracious method, nurturing mainly on reggae, hip-hop and electronic sounds but adding some guitar riffs, funk and the beautiful voice of co-producer Sara Johnston to the mix. The collectif montréalais use the same formula again and manage to deliver a carefully produced piece that came out on the last days of 2007 and was picked as our first selection this year.