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The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 35 ratings

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Audio CD, February 20, 2007
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From the brand

Track Listings

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

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Rich with Beach Boys style harmonies, Roy Orbison reverbs and orchestra, Pink Floyd's pacing and Freddie Mercury's falsetto, the second record by Montreal's Besnard Lakes is a luxurious foray into sound and music. They're 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 this record, the band throws into the mix a mad dash of Fleetwood Mac proportioned swagger and ambition.

Amazon.com

It's not too hard to imagine what the Besnard Lakes' record collection might look like after hearing the eight songs here--the Beach Boys and Spiritualized taking position somewhere near the front--but that doesn't break the tantalizing spell cast by the Montréal husband-and-wife team of Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas. A dreamy cocktail of West Coast harmonies, glum strings, and fuzzy psychedelic arrangements, the disc is something of a bleak masterpiece that takes after the Arcade Fire's Funeral. Songs like "Disaster" and "Devastation" (it's not too hard to detect a theme, either) rattle around on wobbly guitars and shimmering electronic effects until they spill over in a big rumpus, driven on by a six-person band and five-piece choir. The group's main attraction, however, is Goreas, who has a softly sensual voice pitched somewhere between Hope Sandoval and a wet, warm kiss behind the ear. --Aidin Vaziri

Product details

  • Language ‏ : ‎ Italian
  • Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.63 x 5.08 x 0.39 inches; 3.74 ounces
  • Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ Jagjaguwar
  • Item model number ‏ : ‎ 1773472
  • Original Release Date ‏ : ‎ 2007
  • SPARS Code ‏ : ‎ DDD
  • Date First Available ‏ : ‎ February 20, 2007
  • Label ‏ : ‎ Jagjaguwar
  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000M06KCA
  • Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 35 ratings

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
35 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2010
    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.
  • Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2013
    I went to see them on a whim and came away a lifelong fan. I went out and bought all there CD's and every one was well worth the money,this band can't be beat
  • Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2007
    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.
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  • Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2007
    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.

Top reviews from other countries

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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars You need this in your collection!
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 10, 2017
    I have to admit to being thoroughly enamoured of The Besnard Lakes. There isn't a filler in sight on this album, as with all their other offerings.
    Highlights are impossible to pick out due to the amazing quality of all the tracks. Besides which, immediate favourites often fade as other tracks creep up on you over time.
  • Gilles Nadeau
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in Canada on November 1, 2016
    remarquable
  • J.J.Jones
    5.0 out of 5 stars Großartig
    Reviewed in Germany on June 8, 2010
    Liest man die Rezensionen der lieben "Kollegen", drängt sich manchmal der Eindruck auf, dass - gefühlt - jede zweite CD das Prädikat "Meisterwerk" oder "Album des Jahres" verdient. Und merkwürdigerweise erscheinen - gefühlt - 80% der "CD`s des Jahres" bereits im Januar, spätestens im Februar...
    Ich mache da jetzt mal mit und sage: "The Besnard Lakes are the Dark Horse" ist für mich die Entdeckung im Jahr 2010 (CD ist bereits aus dem Jahr 2007).

    Hinter The Besnard Lakes steckt das Ehepaar Jace Lasek und Olga Goreas aus Montreal - und was die mit dieser CD anbieten ist Rockmusik vom Feinsten! Die Bandbreite erstreckt sich von Indierock bis Progrock. Opulente Gitarrenwände und ordentlich Hall verschaffen den 8 eingängigen Songs enormes Volumen. Streicher und Bläser werden dezent, aber wirkungsvoll eingesetzt. Ein gezupftes Banjo hier, ein zartes Glockenspiel da, sorgen für zusätzliche Originalität.
    Dass neben Jace Lasek auch Olga Goreas singt, verleiht den Songs trotz aller Wucht eine angenehme Sanftheit, die für dieses Genre meines Erachtens nicht ganz so üblich ist.
    Einigen Songs würde ich sogar fast Hymnen-Charakter zusprechen wollen. Als Anspieltipps seien hier der Opener "Disaster" und vor allem "Devastation" (der Hammer schlechthin, mit Gänsehautgarantie!) genannt.
    Auch Nostalgiker kommen bei "...are the Dark Horse" auf ihre Kosten. Eine ordentliche Prise vom "The California Sound of the 60`s" sorgt für eine weitere sympathische Note, einige Passagen erinnern gar an die frühen Pink Floyd.

    Die Anzahl von Amazon-Rezensionen spiegelt ein Stück weit auch den Bekanntheitsgrad einer Band wieder. Und danach dürften The Besnard Lakes hierzulande noch weitgehendst unbekannt sein. Natürlich teilen sie damit das Schicksal vieler anderer guter Bands. Bei The Besnard Lakes ist das allerdings ausgesprochen schade.
  • Anne-Marie Bélanger
    2.0 out of 5 stars Good music, but...
    Reviewed in Canada on January 22, 2014
    I received the record and it was scratched on one side. I still can listen to it, but for the first three songs, the sound's not at its best.
  • May Hemer
    5.0 out of 5 stars This is different.......
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 4, 2007
    Have to agree totally with Russell the first reviewer on this one. He describes the sound and feel of this album perfectly. I bought it based on a review that made it sound like my sort of thing and I am not disappointed. Fabulous vocals, gorgeous melodies but something different too. I love the unusual and this is like nothing I have heard before. Give it a listen.