Customer Reviews

Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Another amazing band emerges from Montreal, fronted by husband and wife. Main vocalist and songwriter Jace has produced Sunset Rubdown, Wolf Parade and more. The album features members of the Dears, Godspeed You Black Emperor!, and more. The cred is there... but that doesn't always mean much.

But these guys have risen far above all that... guest appearances and past glories aside, The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse is a truly surprising, original and vigorous album.

An odd and strangely appealing collection of influences come together on the record. The vocals immediately recall Brian Wilson, as do the harmonies that singer Jace writes. But these vocal sounds are set against spacey, shoegaze style backing. The songs feature slow core arrangements in the vein of Low at times. At others they take off in proggy and floydian directions. At others the carefully arranged strings and horns give a more baroque/orchestral feel. The strategically placed tremolo guitar gives a southern feel (think My Morning Jacket). The odd and exciting combinations are endless.

The Album kicks off with `Disaster', a track that starts with sweet harmonies and unique strings, then becomes entirely odd and utterly intriguing by its completion.

Track 2, `For Agent 13', is a particularly exceptional example of the eclecticism previously mentioned. It comes off like Mazzy Star collaborating with Brian Wilson on a Sigur Ros cover version. `And You Lied To Me' hits a huge reverb drenched, guitar solo climax that is driven home by pounding 70s style classic rock drums and thick melodic bass. Warped electronic squeals finish the track.

The following track, Devastation, charges in with a heavy/hard rock riff that gives way to completely spaced out vocals... Think Spiritualized complete with uplifting female group chorus...without the arrogance.

Things mellow momentarily for the start of `Because Tonight', displaying yet another side of the band. Subtle electronics flitter over sharp guitar strums and eerie vocals. Creepy strings and dirge like bass keep the track crawling along. Midway through, things start to really lift, with the strings gaining urgency, the guitars soaring, and the drums building. This is Explosions In The Sky meets Slowdive with more pop sensibility and instrumental scope than either.

Anyway, I think I've said enough!! The only slight miss-step is `On Bedford and Grand' which, while enjoyable enough, treads slightly more pedestrian avenues than the rest of the material.

In any case, if you like any of the bands or styles cited above, if you're into exciting and unique indie rock with an epic edge, if you want something that utilizes a number of familiar genres in engaging new ways, then you should buy this album. Just pips Arcade Fire and The Shins as my favourite 2007 release so far. And outstrips both in terms of breaking new ground.

Let me state upfront that I was unfamiliar with The Besnard Lakes until I heard them on the excellent internet indie rock station WOXY. After that I dove into the band's music and listened to their musical output so far. 2005's "Volume 1" was ok, but I have been charmed much more by this album. If you are not familiar with the band's sound, it's a concontion of My Morning Jacket meets the Beach Boys meets Godspeed You! Back Emperor, yea, for real.

On "The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse" (8 tracks, 45 min.), the band, fronted by the husband and wife team of Olga Goreas and Jace Lasek, expand very nicely on the early beginnings of the band. Check out the opener "Disaster", which goes back and forth between soft and harder-crunching music, intermixed with harmonizing vocals reminiscent of the Beach Boys. But in style it really reminds me more of My Morning Jacket era-Tennessee Fire and At Dawn, even though the music rocks, HARD at times. Other highlights on the album for me are the epic 7+ min. "And You Lied To Me", the Olga-fronted and hard charging "Devistation", and "Because Tonight", another 7+ min. tune. But in truth, there are no weak tracks on this album. The whole album clips along very nicely, and at 45 min. from beginning to end, you find yourself playing it again and again, can you have a better compliment to an album?

The Besnard Lakes came to Cincinnati in early December (opening for Peter, Bjorn & John) and I was absolutly mesmorised how the songs of "The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse" resonated in concert, even better than on the album, with a terrific "wall of sound". This is for me one of the surprise albums of the year. Highly recommended!

Interesting stuff..... Did you ever here one song from a band & your thoughts are Wow! Their other stuff must be great as well? I bought this because of For Agent 13, which is very, very cool & I see how some can compare this Canadian band to Sigur Ros & the like, but the cd is not very consistant to that particular sound. Disaster is very good as well, but some tracks are all over the place. I also wish that there were a bit more of the Brain Wilson harmonies that I keep hearing about, but you can clearly hear that there was some influence. Thats not to say its bad in any way just kind of different & it gets a little up beat for my taste, but I am into a more somber sound so others may like that tempo change? I always find it most helpful when reviewers compare to other bands so my best description would be......some of the older 4AD stuff, Dead Can Dance, This Mortal Coil, & then some Earlimart, but most of all & I know this may sound crazy, but it also brings to mind Catherine Wheel, but again the sound changes too frequently so its difficult to perfectly describe the style. This the only reason its not a 5 star cd in my opinion, but well worth owning For track 2 alone.

And the only reason why it isn't my favorite is because Rush released one this year. Add that to some great 2007 sounds by the Arcade Fire and others, and Canada has really outdone itself in MMVII.

The Besnard Lakes have come onto the scene with an excellent, excellent piece of work that I had the fortune to just buy on a whim during a visit to a local music store. It was playing on the speaker system, and my ears were piqued by the Floydian textures of the music. I asked what CD was playing and bought it even though I'd never heard of the band or the album in my life. That might have been because I bought it on its actual day of release.

I've heard THE BESNARD LAKES ARE THE DARK HORSE described half a dozen different ways, all of them comparing it to existing bands. Yes, there's a lot of Pink Floyd influence, and The Beach Boys, and there's perhaps some Radiohead in the mix. I've heard Spiritualized as another comparison, but I don't listen to Spiritualized, so I can't comment. Where this indie outfit succeeds is in taking all of these wildly diverse sounds and creating something new with them.

It's not immediately my kind of music. When I brought the CD home and listened to it for the first time, I found myself wondering why I wasted $15 on some spur-of-the-moment purchase...then I found myself playing it again...and again...and again...

My favorite track is the epic "Because Tonight", with its swirling post-rock sounds and building, climactic middle section (I'm a sucker for those, maybe because they remind me of two of my favorite albums, THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON and ABBEY ROAD).

Apparently, THE BESNARD LAKES ARE THE DARK HORSE is up for the Polaris Award against such prestigious contenders as Arcade Fire's NEON BIBLE and Feist's THE REMINDER. While I enjoy NEON BIBLE and I've liked the little Feist I've heard, I have to say that in my opinion, this dark horse deserves that award. It's a truly epic masterpiece, and I have the sneaking suspicion that The Besnard Lakes are destined for even greater achievements in future.

OK, I never listened to much of the Beach Boys and still like to challenge their indie relevance a bit, but The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse is not going to get through any review without a reference to the famed surfers. Like Brian Wilson leading an anthemic 70's rock band through an early 90's slowcore filter, The Besnard Lakes are a surprising revelation. After the first listen to BL's glistening guitars and pitch perfect harmonies I thought it was a little too polished and a bit too average for my taste. Somehow, though, after that initial listen, Besnard Lake's got their hooks in me and now, multiple listens later, the band has proved some unanticipated replay value. It is hazy music to be sure, disorienting you before you realize. This must be how they finally get their hooks in you so you can't let them go. There is something about the recordings that digs deep under your skin. A couple times there is even an air reminiscent of the score to The Labyrinth. If you're not a fan of that movie don't let it scar you. The Besnard Lakes are the real deal and a solid end of year contender for 2007.

I know that is a random statement, but it pretty much sums up the way I feel about The Besnard Lakes debut album. After reading the credentials of Jace Lasek one half of the husband and wife duo, I was expecting the kind of quirky indie rock that Canada has been churning out for years now. Instead I got a ethereal punch to the skull. This album shimmers like the brightest star while at the same time pulling you into a dark quicksand that loves you and your misery. This one is a hard one to put your finger on. It douses you in majesty while making you feel a little dirty. An album of infinite contradictions. So bite down on the horse bit and don't drown in this lake of secrets.

This album is weird and heavy. If Carl Wilson and the Wilderness or Black Mountain went into a room with filled with big, humming amps and a medicine cabinet full of codeine and oxycontin, it might sound like this. Probably the best thing I've heard all year.

2007 has been so far as prolific of a year for music as 2005 was. But one of the most amazing releases of the year has been the latest release by The Besnard Lakes, titled "The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse". This album blends in the talents of many of Canada's best indie artists to produce a musical jewel that will live forever.

The sound of the band presents harmonies not unlike Brian Wilson's, with a leap into more psychedelic territory, the kind of Spiritualized or early Pink Floyd. At times, other acts that come to mind are M83 and (musically) The Dears and even Godspeed! You Black Emperor. Both of these last two bands have members representing them in the lineup throughout the album, so the similarities are not coincidental.

In the end, this is one solid album that I can't stop playing and has turned The Besnard Lakes into my new favorite band.

The first 6 tracks are perfect. Drops off with the last two. Wonderfully eerie mixture of sounds and eras. Beach Boys influences are definitely here and if you're like me and you have only a scholarly appreciation of the Boys don't fret. It works. Been listening to this for three years now and it still sounds great and worthy of revisiting. I agree that it could be "darker" or at least spookier. That's just a taste preference. This album is chock full of twisting and exhilerating moments.

this album took me by complete surprise. It was one of those a friend passed on to me in CDR format a few months ago and said one word - 'listen'. I had it on in the background several times, and I just droned out on it. Nothing caught me. But I revisited this album two weeks ago while driving from a friend's house at night, a looongg drive, one that gave me the opportunity to hear areas that might have escaped me before. And yeah, did ever anything so beautiful escape me before.
There is something dark and foreboding about the album , not alone the dark horse on the cover, but I think the irony of the vocalists belting out tragi-comedic ramblings in the style of Brian Wilson was what grabbed my attention first. The surf quitar twanged and tremelo'd on the first track can distract you from the brilliance of the lyrics, which to someone who is not paying attention can sound like sincere snippets of 60's beatnik folkpolkery. But a little attention can go a long way, and if you hear it out from beginning to end you'll hear the full force of irony at work here. The opening track 'Disaster' is a stunner. From the lead's chiding you for 'waking up in the middle of the afternoon' to him telling you to 'gather up your lifes work and rip it to pieces' before a full on barbershop quartet of a chorus chimes in 'you've got disaster on your mind' -- now this opening is important because it gives you an example of how this album could have gone one way or another. The melody progresses to a climax, and we hear guitars distorting and coming up around the vocalist - and a lesser band would have driven the guitars all the way up and burst out into an explosion of sigur-ros like crescendo. At which point I would have promptly ejected the album and never listened to it again - why? Because I have heard enough bands like Mogwai and Sigur Ros and Explosions in the Sky build up to inevitable crescendo's using distorted and reverbed guitars designed for maximum emotion impact. But thankfully, and wisely, Besnard Lakes decide to go another route: Just as that opening breaks free and we expect to break with it into some massive wall of sound, instead we are given a sophisticated twang surf retro guitar which hovers over left and right speaker, melodious vocal harmonies floating disembodied in the background, and then the lead vocalist crooning 'baby come on' over and over again, to restrained and violent waves of Sophie Trudeu's violin - acting as though they wish to make a headlining appearance, but instead finding a content and meaningful place in the background.

This opening track- and this problem is prevalent in other songs as well- suffers from lack of imagination in how to carry or end this wonderful sound they have built to. After the first chorus of 'disaster on your mind', the Lakes seem unable or unsure of how to move it forward, so they take the easy way out and crank it up a whole other notch, bringing it into the dreaded 'distorted-shoegaze-indie-chorus-cop-out' territory. Simple composition issues plague what would have otherwise been an easy five star record.

The next tracks, For Agent 13 + And you Lied to Me both also contain the 'distorted shoegaze chorus', but succeed wildly with it in comparison to the first track.

The album then breaks apart for a little bit, with standard indie pop tracks like 'Devastation' 'Ride the Rails' and particularly 'On Bedford and Grand' failing to live up to the standard presented to us on the first three tracks, but there are shining moments, such as 'Because Tonight' which ends with a triumphant Do Make Say Think pastoral conclusion with aid from Sophie's violins brazenly overtaking other musicians in their prominence, before the guitars finally win the war of instruments and carry the song to its sublime end.

I also have a hot spot for Cedric's War - at least the last Beach-boys harmonizing part of the song - the lead up seems too much to function as simply that - a 'lead up', without much care or thought into the composition before the ecstatic area. I resent musicians who put so much weight in their climaxes they refuse to help the audience out by making the surrounding meat just as enticing.

But what can I say, I love this album, despite its flaws. It's simply too wonderful to resist.

Plus these Canadians get super cookie brownie points for sounding more 'Americana' than any American band making similar music right now.