The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night

The Besnard Lakes | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 9, 2010)
• Original Release Date: 2010
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Jagjaguwar
• ASIN: B00347ZYU2
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #62,773 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night calls upon the influence of ELO and finer parts of the Alan Parsons Project in its orchestration. Still helped by ghosts of Beach Boys Past, the album is more Dennis Wilson than Brian, and more Peter Green Fleetwood Mac than Lindsay Buckingham. The album is a dark bliss-out that folds the eerie guitar epics of the Montreal band's breakthrough into a wall of affected drones and atmospherics, but with a toughened immediacy and grit that gives the form a much-needed shove over the cliffs, making for a haunting, provocative swan dive into the crushing tide.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 4.5 stars... No longer the "Dark Horse", March 9, 2010

By 

Paul Allaer (Cincinnati) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night (Audio CD)

The Canadian band Besnard Lakes, fronted by the husband and wife team of Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas, has released 2 previous albums, the second (2007) release of which was "The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse", a majestic album that was in my Top 5 of the 'Best of the Year'. Now finally comes the highly anticipated third studio album.

"Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night" (10 tracks; 46 min.) starts off with the best track of the album, "Like The Ocean, Like The Innocent", a 9 min. epic track that epitomizes what this band is all about, soaring music, beautiful harmonizing vocals, it has it all. "Chicago Train" is a quieter, haunting song. "Albatross" (1st radio single) features Olga Goreas on lead vocals, but is a curious choice for a lead single in my opinion. "Glass Printer" is classic Besnard Lakes showgazing, just great. The second half of the album starts off with the mammoth 7 min. "Land of the Living Skies", with lush sounds abounding (with plenty of reverb). "And This Is What We Call Progress" is about as straight-forward rock as you'll find on this album, but it works great. "Light Up the Night" is the other must-hear track on here, a 7+ min. of intricate and delicate music, as good as the band has done ever.

In all, this is quite the album. My expectations were high, due to my love for the "Dark Horse" album, and they were met, and then some. Easily a contender for "Album of the Year" for me at this point. I had the good fortune of catching the Besnard Lakes in concert here in Cincinnati (at Bogart's) on their tour in support of the "Dark Horse" album, and what a show it was, just epic, fabulous. With this album, this band is no longer a "Dark Horse", that much is clear. This band is going places. If you wonder where you can hear them, check out WOXY (BAM! The Future of Rock and Roll), the internet-only that is the best indie-music station in the country. Meanwhile, "Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Fire" is highly, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Epic, intense, soaring rock. Grab the headphones!, March 11, 2010

By 

Harriet L. Schwartz (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night (Audio CD)

Building on the sound captured on their previous album "The Besnard Lakes are the Dark Horse", the Canadian band has again delivered a masterpiece!

These days it's quite trendy for indie bands to feature Brian Wilson influenced vocals, though most bands take those vocals in a poppy direction. Besnard Lakes feature some of the Brian Wilson influence but situate those vocals definitively in a rock context. Their music has the space of Pink Floyd, space/psych rock instrumentation, accentuated with heavy rock drumming, and layered male and female vocals.

Get this album, and then put on your headphones and enjoy.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the dreamy roar of guitar prog-pop epics..., April 29, 2010

By 

Charlie Quaker "The Quaker Goes Deaf" (Normal, IL.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night (Audio CD)

The 2nd release from this Montreal, Canada band who
play swirling, dreamy guitar prog-pop epics that fight their way through an ambient rock haze of
divinely distorted elegance. Mixing lugubrious drone atmospherics saturated by orchestral pop
melodies with the occasional clamoring, guitar-driven shoegaze roar, TBL have created a perfect
combination of the raw & the beautiful; prog-rock with soul & power that successfully pursues the
noble purity of rock. Recalls a diverse array of bands: Pink Floyd, Love, Broken Social Scene,
Dears, E.L.O., Beach Boys, Cocteau Twins, Ride...