Absolute Sound Magazine 2007 Golden Year Music Award
Rich with Beach Boys style harmonies, Roy Orbison reverbs and orchestra, Pink Floyd's pacing and Freddy Mercury's falsetto, The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse is a luxurious foray into sound and music. This is the second record by The Besnard Lakes, Montrealers by way of Western Canada. Their independently released previous record, Volume I, came out in 2004, and it was noticed by critics but was largely overlooked by the public at large. On both records, The Besnard Lakes have shown that they are masters of finely-honed experimental pop songs that invoke the eerie Lynchian setting as aided and abetted by the music of Julee Cruise. But, on The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse, the band throws into the mix a mad dash of Fleetwood Mac proportioned swagger and ambition. Not so incidentally, the Besnard Lakes have created a masterpiece that will resonate within all quarters, amongst critics, casual and not-so-casual rock listeners, garden variety pop fans and headphone junkies.
The ...Dark Horse album was recorded by Jace Lasek at the Breakglass Studios (whose production credits include Wolf Parade, Islands, Sunset Rubdown and Stars, amongst others) with his wife and band member, Olga Goreas. The other members of The Besnard Lakes, Steve Raegele, Nicole Lizee, and Kevin Laing, contributed as well.
Selections:
1. Disaster
2. For Agent 13
3. And You Lied to Me
4. Devastation
5. Because Tonight
6. Rides the Rails
7. On Bedford and Grand
8. Cedric's War
Rich with Beach Boys style harmonies, Roy Orbison reverbs and orchestra, Pink Floyd's pacing and Freddy Mercury's falsetto, The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse is a luxurious foray into sound and music. This is the second record by The Besnard Lakes, Montrealers by way of Western Canada. Their independently released previous record, Volume I, came out in 2004, and it was noticed by critics but was largely overlooked by the public at large. On both records, The Besnard Lakes have shown that they are masters of finely-honed experimental pop songs that invoke the eerie Lynchian setting as aided and abetted by the music of Julee Cruise. But, on The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse, the band throws into the mix a mad dash of Fleetwood Mac proportioned swagger and ambition. Not so incidentally, the Besnard Lakes have created a masterpiece that will resonate within all quarters, amongst critics, casual and not-so-casual rock listeners, garden variety pop fans and headphone junkies.
The ...Dark Horse album was recorded by Jace Lasek at the Breakglass Studios (whose production credits include Wolf Parade, Islands, Sunset Rubdown and Stars, amongst others) with his wife and band member, Olga Goreas. The other members of The Besnard Lakes, Steve Raegele, Nicole Lizee, and Kevin Laing, contributed as well.
Selections:
1. Disaster
2. For Agent 13
3. And You Lied to Me
4. Devastation
5. Because Tonight
6. Rides the Rails
7. On Bedford and Grand
8. Cedric's War