Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night on CD

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Review Long-time stars of the Canadian indie-rock firmament, at The Besnard Lakes’ core is husband-and-wife duo Olga Goreas and Jace Lasek, creators of 2007’s …Are The Dark Horse album, an alternately intimate and grandiose set which clocked in at a svelte 45 minutes. With …Are the Roaring Night they delve deeper into the glittering soundscapes that have become synonymous with their sound; sacrificing something of the warmth that marked their previous work, they nonetheless emerge with a thoroughly impressive, coherent whole. Opening in two parts with Like the Ocean, Like the Innocent, the ease and confidence on display is remarkable. Lacek’s falsetto spirals and dives over a tense, static fuzz which finally breaks into bracing power chords a few minutes in, heralding the arrival of Goreas’s echoing, husky vocals – the perfect foil to Lacek’s sharp, distinctive style. It’s a sense of the elemental The Besnard Lakes aim for on …Are the Roaring Night, and for the most part they nail it. The mood is almost overwhelmingly sedate at times, but caterwauling highs bubble under throughout – peaks such as those found on Albatross may seem rare, but they’re all the more effective for it, delivered with the kind of gusto that peers such as Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene revel in. The vision they present the listener is admittedly a dark one, perhaps best epitomised by its centrepiece: in Land of Living Skies, Goreas takes the spotlight with a tale of losing oneself to the vagaries of nature, swelling oceans and rugged landscapes forming the backdrop to – and manifestation of – deeply personal quandaries. As it draws to a close, Light Up the Night constitutes the record’s most outright beautiful moment, washes of strings and piano surging towards a serene climax that does much to allay all the fear and confusion preceding, only for final track The Lonely Moan to recede in ghostly, suggestive whispers, indicating that for The Besnard Lakes, things aren’t that clear-cut after all. --James Skinner Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window Product Description Dark, atmospheric, and dreamlike, Montreal's the Besnard Lakes return with their brand new album, 'The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night' on the much esteemed Jagjaguwar label. Founded by husband and wife team, Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas, Besnard Lakes have become a cult and critical success, releasing two albums, including 2007's Polaris Music Prizenominated 'The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse'. Since then, the band have also composed and performed an original score for the Mark Ruffalo-directed independent film, 'Sympathy for Delicious', which has since been accepted into the prestigious 2010 Sundance Film Festival. It's this cinematic sweep and panoramic consciousness which filters into '... Are the Roaring Night'. Boasting an instrumental majesty reminiscent of the Arcade Fire or Black Mountain, the album also manages to be a haunting pop masterpiece, invoking shades of the Beach Boys, Phil Spector, Fleetwood Mac, Roy Orbison and Mazzy Star. 'The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night' was tracked and recorded on Breakglass Studio's latest acquisition: A 1968 Neve germanium mixing console rumored to have been used to record portions of Led Zeppelin's 'Physical Graffiti'. a twisted pop chronicle; an eerie guitar epic; a fuzzed-out wall-of-sound; 'The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night' is a hazy masterwork, which more than warrants Billboard Magazine's recent assertion that the group are one of the "Best Bets of 2010".