Professor Puff's Traveling Goodtime Record Reviews: "Besnard Lakes are the Dark Horse" by The Besnard Lakes
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Artist:
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Album:The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse
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Track:For Agent 13
Remember that one band you heard at that guys house at that one party where the dude broke his wrist doing a keg stand? Turns out that band wasn't The Besnard Lakes. You might have thought it was close but you'd be wrong. Dead wrong. (Dun-dun-duuuuuuunn)
The Besnard Lakes are a band from Montreal. Oh wow, BIG surprise, I like a band from Montreal. How much do you want to be they had some connection with Broken Social Scene? Huh? How much? Well, turns out they don't have any _direct_ connection, but members of Stars made guest appearances on the record and there were members of Stars in BSS. So there you go, it's like Six Degrees of Broken Social Scene. Also on the record are members of prominent and potential BSS collaborators The Dears and Godspeed! You Black Emperor. The latter probably account for some of the epic, melodic, orchestral, sweeping, zephyric, ethereal, atmospheric, celestial, gossamer....diaphanous(?) music that makes up the record. For reference imagine if My Morning Jacket turned their spring reverb to 11 and played early Pink Floyd covers from inside the Bat Cave. It's like that, but better than you're imagining. It's spooky and dark and it's probably way different live because unless they strictly play shows in cathedrals and empty grain silos there's no way they sound that ghostly out of the studio, but then I don't know because I've never seen them live.
Speaking of layers (which we haven't), there are lots. Like, if layers were bricks Besnard Lakes would have a lot of bricks. There's at least 30 guitarists, 2 drummers, 4 bassists, 19 vocalists, a violin, some cellos, a barking dog and a chain saw. Wait, those last two are outside, my neighbor's cutting down a tree. But still, they might as well be on the album. It's like Band of Horses meets Mogwai but with some girls singing in the background. I don't know how else to explain it, maybe Beach Boys with the London Philharmonic and a gay men's chorus? Whatever. It's good.
Puffmagic gives "Besnard Lakes are the Dark Horse" by The Besnard Lakes 4 out of 5 Rob Gordons.
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